Disclaimer: Don't own.
A/N: Hi! Okay um… well… there really isn't an author's note for this one so uh… I love reviews and try to take and use all the constructive criticism I get through them to make my stories better… yeah that's it: Enjoy!
Chase stood outside his boss's office as he momentarily forgot how to move. The clean, white, crisp sheet of paper with professionally crafted lines of neat text he was gripping onto became damp with sweat. His breathing was rapid and shallow, it was so bad he was worried he was going to have a panic attack right there.
He didn't want to do it. He wanted to crumple the paper he was holding up and then un-crumple it so he could rip it into small bits and flush them down the toilet. He knew he had to do it though, this was becoming too much.
House was sitting inside his office completely unaware of his intensivist freaking out beyond the closed shades surrounding his aquarium-like work space. He had his feet propped up on patient files Cuddy had dropped off for him to take a look at and he was whistling happily to himself as he defeated the evil snail moving in hyper-speed and level eight simultaneously.
Chase took a deep breath as he quickly taught himself to walk again. He pushed open the door to House's office and watched him smile as he franticly pounded on his game boy.
Chase cleared his throat, "Um… House?"
House looked over the top of his game boy to peer at Chase. He was pale, jumpy, and nervous looking. This was going to be interesting.
"Cou… could I talk to you… for a second?" Chase stuttered looking down with hatred at the sheet of computer paper in his hands.
House gave a firm nod and set down his game boy. Chase took the seat across from him and folded his hands neatly in his lap. House lifted his leg off the patient files and leaned forward in his seat.
"What's up?" House asked brightly dieing for some new gossip.
Chase mumbled something incoherent; his head still down.
"What?" House inquired leaning in farther.
Chase cleared his throat again and looked up, "I'm here to hand in my two week notice,"
House furrowed his brow in confusion and shock, "Why?"
Chase's shaky hand reached across the table to deposit his perfect and well-thought out resignation letter, "I think tha… that's it just time."
House wasn't quite sure what to make out of Chase's flimsy response or the way he, once again, stared at the floor while doing so. House skimmed the letter.
"…has been a great help to my development as a doctor…" "…worked for much longer I than expected…" "…unfair to others seeking training in diagnostics…" "…blah, blah, blah…"
House tossed it to the side unimpressed. The way he saw it he had two options A) tell Chase that he wanted him to stay, suffer humility, and miss out on doing B) observing Chase his last two weeks, figure out why he was leaving and then manipulate the hell out of the situation to keep him here.
House picked option B, "Okay then," House placed his feet back on the patient files and picked up his game boy.
Chase gave House a confused look, "'Okay then'?"
"Yup," House replied entering a cheat code to get to level ten.
Chase was really freaked out. House liked controlling every situation he was in, taking advantage of everything… and he was just going to let Chase walk out without so much as a decent explanation? Something wasn't right.
Chase gave a puzzled nod and left.
HouseChaseHouseChaseHouseChaseHouseChaseHouseChaseHouseChaseHouseChase
It had been a whole week of House observing Chase and he had nothing to show for it except that he was becoming increasingly annoyed with Chase's oral fixation.
House was pondering the Chase quitting debacle as he took the elevator to the roof.
When he got off he found some answers he was looking for.
Chase was sitting on the edge of the roof with a cigarette poking out of his mouth and a bottle of spray deodorant that was supposed to cover up the smell of smoke resting next to him. He was talking on his cell phone and shaking his head.
"I know, I know…," he was saying to the phone. "It's just that I wish there was some way I could stay. I love this job."
The person on the other end of the conversation said something that made Chase sigh, "I know! I get it! I fell in love with my boss! It's my fault… I just wish…," he sighed again and took a drag on his cigarette.
House's jaw dropped. "Chase fell in love with… me?!" He thought.
House had, had a secret crush on his youngest employee ever since he hired him. But in no universe—this one, a parallel one, or otherwise one—did he think Chase would ever return his feelings.
Chase rolled his eyes, still unaware of House's presence, and let out a long dramatic sigh, "What. Ever," he told the phone before flipping it closed. He sucked in another lung full of smoke and tilted his head back to exhale out perfect smoke rings as he watch them disappear in the air.
"Didn't your father die of lung cancer?" House demanded fast walking toward Chase pissed that his crush was killing himself.
Chase jumped in surprised, "What the…! House? What are you doing here?"
"Keeping you from developing lung cancer," House stated snatching the cancer stick out of Chase's mouth, dropping it on the floor, and grinding it into nothing with the heel of his sneaker.
Chase stared blankly at House before questioning, "How long have you been here?"
House sucked in a lung full of fresh unpolluted non cancer causing air before softly replying, "Long enough to figure out the real reason you're quitting."
"Oh," Chase said beginning his looking at the ground marathon again ready for House to jab at his man hood or do something else equally cruel.
"I want you to stay," House blurted out of the blue. This statement shocked both House and Chase, but House remained calm and cool about it.
Chase's head snapped up in astonishment, "Huh?"
House nodded and repeated, "I want you to stay."
Chase blinked.
"I'd really love…" House trailed off as he stepped closer to Chase and placed a hand on his thigh, "…for you to stay," he finished.
Chase blinked.
House came even closer, so there was only about a quarter inch between them, "Please stay," House mumbled into Chase's ear before wrapping his hand around Chase's neck and pulling him in for a long slow tender kiss. "Please stay," he mumbled again against Chase's lips.
Chase blinked.
"Chase?" House asked pulling back, "Are you alright?"
Chase focused on House as a big grin took over his face. It made him glow like fire fly. Chase grabbed House and dragged him over to the brick wall of the hospital and pressed him up against it with his entire body.
"I'll stay," he whispered right before he kissed House with much more force than House had kissed him with. House eagerly accepted him.