A/N: I don't own anything relating to the show House, M.D. Also, as you read, please try to imagine House's facial expressions. I think it works much better. Enjoy!
"You fascinate me."
Dr. Chase looked up from the crossword in his hand and stopped chewing on the pencil he had, a bit surprised by his boss' sudden interruption. He sat in front of the conference table, while House was at his desk, with his arms crossed over the table top and his chin resting on them.
When he looked at him, Chase couldn't help but think he looked like a little kid.
"No I don't. You're just easily bored." Allowing himself to smile a little, Chase got back to his crossword puzzle. "And you need someone to pick on so you can be happy."
House was now staring at the floor with an expression that was a mix of boredom and curiosity.
"That may be true," he said, after a while of silence, "but it doesn't mean I wanna pick on you."
Chase just snorted and slightly shook his head.
"But since Foreman and Cameron aren't here, you'll just have to do."
And out of nowhere, a somewhat larger than normal tennis ball hit the intensivist right in the head. Some noise that could be interpreted as the word "scores" was heard.
"Hey!" he cried, grabbing his head where the ball hit him, although it was more out of reflex, because it hadn't really hurt. "Don't you have something better to do than annoy me?"
"To tell the truth, not really." He slouched on his chair, legs a little spread. "Wilson is with some patient." He puffed and shook his head in a disapproving manner. "I swear, they're just getting more and more shrewish by the minute."
"Yeah, people and their ridiculous wish for health." Chase said in a sarcastic tone.
"You don't have to be healthy to be happy." House said, leaning on to the desk again.
"Of course you do." the other replied. "Just look at yourself."
As soon as he heard himself and his brain processed the sentence, the young doctor waited for another flying ball. Or worse. He knew he probably went to far. He knew better than to get into that game with House.
But he didn't say anything, which made Dr. Chase unsure of it was because he wasn't gonna punish him or because he was thinking of something particularly evil.
"You fascinate me."
Whatever Chase was expecting, that wasn't definitely it. But he thought it best to play along, just to make House happy.
"Why is there about me that makes you so fascinated?" he asked cautiously.
"Gimme that ball back."
The blond was a bit surprised, but still he picked up the ball that was floor and threw it back at House, at a perfect height for him to catch it. The diagnostician then started throwing it back and forth between his hands.
"For one thing, this." He said.
Chase frowned. "The fact that I'm good at throwing balls?"
"The fact that you'll do anything I tell you to do."
This time Robert Chase was even more surprised.
"Cameron'll do anything you say." He said, trying to excuse his behaviour.
"She'll do almost anything right away, but that's because she likes me."
"I-" The intensivist was able to stop before making a fool of himself. He realized he was talking way to much that day. Must be the lack of occupation, makes my brain get all... loose.
House didn't hear the small sound coming from his Wombat's mouth, so he waited for an answer, but as he didn't get it, he decided to continue.
"But you will argue me, then pout with that pretty little mouth of yours and run off like the good puppy you are to do it."
Chase was getting tired of the conversation. Where could House possibly wanna get to with this?
He sighed. "Seriously, isn't General Hospital on? I'm not in the mood for this right now." He reached for his pocket and took a box of Tic Tacs.
"You know, I think you're starting to replace pencils with those." House said while he watched the other doctor popping in a mint. "But thank God you found another way to feed your oral fixation. The hospital was running out of pencils."
He got up, grabbed his cane and crossed the room. When Chase opened the box and was about to drop another mint into his hand House took the box from him and took one himself, popping it like a pill.
"You know, I think you're starting to replace the Vicodin with those." Chase said, smirking.
"Shh. Don't tell the Vicodin. It misses me. It would be a hard blow to it." House replied, like it was the most logical thing in the world.
"Are you high again?" The younger one said, with a playful smile on his lips.
"Of course not." He said, sounding completely outraged. He took another mint and put the box on the table, in front of Chase, who picked it up and played with it for a while. House then returned to his previous position, lying lazily in his chair.
About ten minutes after that, Chase was already lost in either his crossword puzzle or his thoughts again, and House was betting on the second. Either that or it was a really hard crossword, because his Wombat hadn't written anything in a long while.
Chase was indeed thinking, about what House had said. And he knew it was true. Most of the times he didn't even argue before breaking into someone's home or run some tests just because House told him to.
Over the time he had gotten used to take what House said as the law. Sometimes, he found himself regretting the whole Vogler thing, but at the time keeping his job was everything in his mind. But House had forgiven him about that, hadn't he?
But House was just... right all the time.
Annoyingly right.
"I'm bored." A certain diagnostician interrupted his musings.
"Go bother Cuddy." Chase replied, not taking his eyes from the crossword puzzle, but not actually seeing the crossword.
House made an expression of total please and surprise. "How come I hadn't thought of that? Remind me of getting you some Wombat treats later."
The young intensivist just shook his head, trying to hide the smile that struggled to take form in his lips.
Annoyingly cute, too.
Huh?
No, funny. He meant to say, funny... right?
Where the hell did that come from? He knew House tended to rub off on people, but he sure hoped Cameron didn't.
It just slipped. It was just a slip.
Dr. Robert Chase let go of the long forgotten crossword and pencil, placing them on the table in front of him. He reclined slightly in his chair and sighed.
Freudian slips are a real drag.
His mind wondered off for a bit, but he could hear House's voice echoing in the background. When Chase actually took notice of what he was saying, he frowned and turned to look at his boss, only to find him talking on the phone.
"... no, thirty. THIRTY. If they can't be alive, then yeah, frozen will have to do. Yes. To Dr. Cuddy. That's C-U-D-D-Y. I want them in my office by..." he made an interrogative expression and covered the phone with his hand so whoever was on the end of the line wouldn't hear. "Oy, Wombat boy." Chase just stared at him. "What time does Cuddy leave today?"
Chase thought for a moment. "It's Thursday, so she'll probably leave around... 7:30."
House made that taken-aback-in-shock-and-surprise expression of his, blinking and widening his eyes. "You know Cuddy's schedule? Oh, I'm going to have to tease someone about this."
Everything's a joke to him. Chase thought to himself. The he bit his lower lip. Please let it be her.
"... 7:20 p.m. today. Can that be done?" he asked, looking at his watch. "Just ask anyone, they'll show you the way. Great, thank you." There was a pause. "No you may not." And with that, he hung up.
"Please let Cuddy know I took no part, whatsoever, in whatever you just did." Chase said, exasperated.
"And let you have all the glory?" He snorted. "I don't think so, blondie." Chase blinked. "I just hope Cuddy likes chicken." House continued. "Because if she doesn't, boy she's gonna be mad."
"Jesus!" Chase bursted. "Don't you like anybody?"
House got up, picked up his cane and started crippling his way to the door.
"I just don't like uninteresting people." He said. "I like people who fascinate me."
House looked one more time at his Wombat, who was pouting and had a dubious expression, before he crossed the doorcase. When he did, House couldn't help but think he looked like a little kid.
"Does that mean you like me?"
And either House didn't hear or he didn't want to reply, but truth is, the question remained unanswered.
A/N: There it is! My first EVER House fic. And my first EVER finished oneshot. I'm so proud! I hope you like it. I just had to write something House/Chase, even mildly. I'm planing to write much more in the future, because there aren't barely enough House/Chase fics. At least not enough to feed my addiction! ;)
Don't forget to review. I really wanna know what you think about this!
(Even though I don't like my nickname a lot, people will never stop calling me this, so I'm just gonna surrender.)
Yours,
Barbie