Title: I, You, He
Disclaimers: I do not own any of the characters or situations of House; I only meddle in their sandbox for a while.
Words: 343
It's not a date, and Wilson knows it's not a date because there are more 'he's in their conversation that 'I's and 'you's.
They've made the usual small talk; they've covered the weather, traffic, the day-to-day of the hospital, but their conversation always goes back to Dr. Gregory House. And why shouldn't it? He's an easy and plentiful topic of conversation. He's something they're both familiar with, both accustomed to talking about. They could spend all day trading stories about the outlandish things he's said and done.
Well, maybe she could. He doesn't think he can, because even before he and Cuddy – Lisa, she said he could call her Lisa, even though she's still Cuddy at work and it's definitely not a date – started interacting outside of work, House more or less monopolized his time and thought and energy, until he had none left for anything else. And he'd rather not spend what little he has now talking about him, or what's the point? They might as well just bring him along. They aren't saying anything to each other that they don't already tell House to his face every hour of the working day.
But he's at a loss for anything else to talk about. What does she expect or want him to say, anyway? He already knows the answers to all the most obvious questions – what she does for a living, where she lives, what she does in her few daily seconds of spare time, why she became a doctor. Sort of. He knows the pat, politically-correct answer she feeds the interns whenever they ask that question, anyway. And asking for any reason other than that…that's a question for a second or third date. And this isn't even their first.
No, they keep coming back to House, because he's their comfort zone, he's how they interact. Beyond their jobs and their circumstances, all they really have in common is one brilliant and self-destructive man, and that's not enough to build a relationship on.
But it's not a date. So it doesn't matter.