First House fic! House/Chase, of course. I hope this isn't too sappy.
It's The Smallest Things
Summary: Chase forgets an important date, luckily somebody is there to remind him.
Robert Chase was woken early in the morning by the persistent ringing on his mobile phone. Muffled by the sheets, he groaned.
"Go 'way"
"Chrissakes" He groaned, when the bleeping continued. A hand appeared from under the sheets and groped blindly until he felt the plastic case of his phone. He pulled his hand back under the sheets, holding the mobile up to his ear.
He growled into the phone "Chase"
"Good morning, sunshine!" An all-too-cheerful voice blared out. Robert growled again.
"House, the hell do you want?" He knew his accent was still thick from sleep – something that amused his boss to no end. His lover was into the habit of occasionally waking Robert up at obscene hours of the morning just for the Australian-ised curses that were thrown his way.
"Checking to see how my favourite duckling is doing" House mock-cooed, pulling off a scarily good impression of Cameron as he did so.
"House"
"You don't seem to be able to say much past my name. I don't mind, but I'd really rather be there to make you scream it" A taunt and a promise were mixed in that sentence. Layers upon layers of mixed meanings – something uniquely and infuriatingly House. Maybe that was what had kept Stacy hooked for so long.
"The only thing I want to scream about is how you manage to keep me awake even when you're not even in the city" He grumbled, accent returning to normal as he rubbed at his eyes.
"We're all cleared up – I managed everything by myself, of course" Chase rolled his eyes at the ego "I'll be driving Cuddy insane again by the end of the week"
"Pity" Chase teased "Foreman's been running everything smoothly since you've been gone"
"Remind him of how I like my coffee." A pause "And remember to look in your filing cabinet – second drawer, fourth file"
Chase pulled the phone away from his ear as the dial tone buzzed in his ear. He stared at in confusion. Those people who say Gregory House doesn't even have a twisted sense of humour has never been on the receiving end of one of these stunts.
House was in another hospital on the other side of New Jersey, helping a hospital with a strange patient condition that both that hospital and Princeton-Plainsboro shared – it had somehow spread just between the two. Cuddy had sent House with Cameron – while she said officially it was because House was the leader of the investigation, everybody knew it was to get House out of her way for a week, possibly (hopefully for most) for a fortnight.
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Later-
Chase scribbled away at the piece of paper, taking notes on various conditions that could explain a patient's symptoms. He sighed when the pen ran out, carving a line in the paper mid 'd'. He rummaged through House's drawers, searching for a spare pen. He pulled out various items, including a ball, a tiny koala keychain and a set of keys for various people's houses – he wondered if Foreman or Cuddy knew about House's copy of their house keys.
As he searched, his phone bleeped again. Reaching out, he held the phone with one hand whilst searching with the other.
"Chase"
"Boo"
Chase closed his eyes and sighed "I'm working, House"
"I know you are" There was a gleeful note in his voice, then a pause "My pens are in the second drawer, underneath my blackmail photos"
"How did you...?"
"You sounded like you were looking for something, and you're most likely in my office – you always use my chair when I'm not around"
"That's creepy" Sure enough, there was a packet of pens there, along with House's blackmail material.
"Why do you have a picture of Cameron kissing Foreman? 'Cause of this is your masturbation material I'm dumping you faster than Wilson does a wife"
"That's for when Foreman decides he can lead the ducklings better than I can"
"But not Cameron?"
"Cameron still holds me in complete awe" He said confidently.
"She told you 'you're an ass'"
"Exactly"
"I'm not even going to even pretend to understand your thought process"
"Good. Have you checked your cabinet yet?"
"No"
"Do it" House hung up, leaving Chase staring at the phone for the second time that day. He sat for a few moments, then, curiosity overcoming him, he stood and walked back to his own cabinet, pulling out the keys.
"Second drawer, fourth file" He muttered to himself. Why would House be looking through his patient notes? As he pulled the file out – which was oddly heavy – something slipped out onto his desk. He reached out to pick it up, closing his eyes at the smell that emanated from the packaging already. House, at some point, had found out his special weakness for chocolate. He had never managed to adjust to American chocolate, but the bar he held in his hands brought back fond memories of being six.
He dialled the number out of memory, and House picked up on the second dial.
"How?" Chase asked, slightly breathless with surprise.
"I have my ways"
"What's the occasion?" he asked curiously. Laughter greeted that sentence and he frowned "What?".
House choked down his laughter and said "Happy Birthday"
Chase frowned, and looked over at the date on the digital clock. '2/12' stood out clearly. He breathed out a quiet laugh – he'd forgotten his own birthday – though without his mother here to remind him, he often forgot.
"Christ" He muttered "How did you remember?"
Ignoring the question, House replied "27, Robert. Feeling old?"
"Shut up" He grinned anyway. He considered it stupid and slightly worrying that House only had to use his real first name and he would forgive the surly doctor for anything. It was the smallest things that meant a lot – House softening for a moment and using 'Robert' was enough to make him walk on air.
"I'll be back tomorrow, wombat" A slight cringe at the name, but a soft smile anyway at the faint fond note in the words.
"Thank you, Greg" He could almost hear the smirk over the silence of the phone.