House slammed his fist down the table and the diagnostics room turned completely silent.
"You moron!" He cried out loud. "How stupid can you be? Taking a scan of the same leg twice? I'm starting to think that you're stuck with a bird's brain! You leave me no choice – you're off this case!"
Foreman and Cameron watched Chase with fear in their eyes, both having adopted a wait-and-see attitude. For the past few weeks, the diagnostics room had seemed so peaceful and quiet. There had been the usual taunting from House every now and then, but it had been without tantrums or arguments and it had seemed fairly innocent. But the harmony, indeed, seemed to be over now. Sometimes House would pick a poor soul to harass and this time, it appeared, he had picked Chase.
Foreman curiously waited for Chase to say something in return and make the situation even worse for himself whilst Cameron hoped that he would be smart enough to keep his mouth shut and just let House say whatever he wanted. As they studied their Australian colleague, they could tell that he was struggling to contain himself. It looked as though he was torn between defending himself by yelling back at House or keeping his mouth shut in order to protect his job. He looked pretty angry at this point, but not as angry as their boss.
Chase finally chose his own defending words and he sighed: "Look, it was an honest mistake. I can easily run another test if you like."
House tossed his head back and chuckled condescendingly. "Oh sure. Like wasting our time just the one time isn't enough. I already told you, you're off this case. If we can't have your full attention, we might as well have none at all."
Foreman observed how these words seemed to frustrate the blond doctor even more. He had to admit that he found the situation slightly amusing, although he did feel bad about enjoying it so much. In a way, he felt like Chase deserved this. Maybe he needed a reminder of the fact that he should take his job more seriously. Sometimes Chase could act a little reckless and get away with it and that was something which Foreman had never appreciated in anyone.
Chase took a step towards House. "I'm sorry, but I think you're overreacting. Just give me another chance and I will prove it to you that I'm focused…"
House smiled evilly and pretended to listen. "Oh let me think about that for a moment," he said mockingly, "hmm… How about no! This shall teach you to be more grateful for your precious job in the future. Foreman, you go do the new test! And Cameron, you can apologize to the patient for the inconvenience and explain it to her that one of her doctors is a clown!"
Foreman just nodded and Cameron looked as though she wanted to protest, but House fled the room before any of them could bother him with further questions. When he was gone, Chase exhaled loudly and sat down at the table, suddenly having very little to do in this room.
"Sorry, man." Foreman said as he noted the Australian's bitter reaction. "I'm sure it's nothing personal."
"Yeah right," Chase merely shrugged, "he's just a jerk. I shouldn't be surprised."
"He's not a jerk," Cameron objected loyally, "he just cares about the patient. As he should."
"Ha! He never cares about any of the patients." Chase crossed his arms defiantly.
Even Foreman chuckled and agreed with him on this. "True. Get your head out of your ass, Cameron. You're so naïve!"
He left the room in order to run the test and Cameron's eyes followed him angrily. Her old crush on House was well-known in this department and she was sick and tired of people making fun of her for it.
"He's such a jackass." Chase muttered to himself as he began to pack his things. If he wasn't needed here, he might as well head down to the ER instead.
But of course, Cameron heard this and she took a step closer as she wanted his attention. "Please don't blame House like that," she said almost pleadingly and it made her sound pathetic, "he means well, even if he doesn't show it. Please don't hold a grudge against him, Chase. You know better than that."
Chase turned around to look at her. She was frowning once again and she looked utterly miffed. But he didn't care.
He shrugged and said bluntly: "I'm not just holding a grudge against House, Cameron. I hate him."
CHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCHCH
By the end of the day, Chase picked up his messenger bag and changed out of his scrubs in the locker-room, saying goodnight to some of his colleagues and hello to some of those whose shifts had only just begun. He felt tired, uneasy. He considered taking a quick shower, but then he just felt desperate to leave the hospital as soon as possible.
Exiting the building, he began to walk through the parking lot, looking for a very specific car. His boss' car. However, when he found it in one of the front rows, he quickly discovered that House had made it to the car before him. He was standing there, leaning against the door with a look on his face as to imply that he had been expecting his young employee for a while now. When Chase moved closer, House stood up to take a good look at him.
"Are we alone?" Chase asked him in a fairly neutral voice as they looked each other in the eyes.
House grinned devilishly and nodded. "We are indeed."
And then he took a big step forward and locked his arms around his awaiting employee. Chase smiled when he felt House's embrace and he leaned into his touch immediately.
"Nice acting today, baby." House breathed against his lips and pulled him even closer so that he could smell his hair and nibble at his ear.
"You too." Chase chuckled happily. "You should have seen their faces."
"Oh I wish I could."
House moved to nibble at the kid's neck, just to make him raise his chin a little bit. And when he did, House sought his lips with his own and he immediately deepened the kiss in order to make it more passionate. He had missed his young lover all day and he knew that the kid would make up for it tonight. He couldn't wait.
"So tell me," House said as he pulled back slowly, making sure that they were still alone, "what happened after I left the room?"
"Oh it was really funny," Chase giggled and his eyes lit up, much to House's delight, "I called you a jerk and a jackass and, of course, Cameron defended you right away. You should have seen her face when I told her that I hate you."
House couldn't help but to laugh out loud. Oh, this was perfect. The kid had truly done a good job on this one. Almost as good as him, that was.
"That's just brilliant," he smiled widely as he caressed his Wombat's cheek with his hand, "although, you will have to make it up to me tonight. I can't have you badmouthing me behind my back, can I?"
"Very funny," Chase began to play with House's neck hairs and he gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "you said a lot of things to me as well, remember."
They both smirked at the thought and gave each other one last look before getting in the car. As House got ready to drive off the hospital's parking lot, Chase placed a hand on his knee and he kept it there throughout the twenty-minute car ride. He too felt very excited about tonight.
In a way, they were both saddened to keep their relationship a secret, but they knew it was for the best. They had both been doing an excellent job keeping people from finding out. They would only kiss and cuddle behind locked doors and they would both flirt with other people in order to appear as single as possible. The plan had worked so well. Until Cameron saw them having lunch together in the canteen one day and gave them a funny look. From that moment on, they both realised that they needed to do something in order to keep her from figuring it out.
That was when Chase came up with the idea that they should pretend to be fighting. Pretend to resent each other, even. So far, it didn't feel very pleasant but surely, it kept people from getting suspicious. And that was all they needed right now.
They had been living together for a few weeks now and everything was going perfectly well. Which was exactly why they didn't want anything to change these days. It would be too soon to go public. They needed to enjoy each other's company as much as possible before taking such a huge next step.
And indeed, they enjoyed each other very much.