He waited, silently, with his hand on the doorknob; he didn't have the energy to deal with Cuddy right now, especially if she's stressed. Eventually she got tired of banging on the door and left; House sighed as he watched her car speed away.
It took him ten minutes to agonisingly limp his way to the couch , sit down and find a suitable T.V programme to watch; no sooner had he found a show to take away his body worries, he was distracted by more knocking at his door.
House chose to ignore it for as long as possible; he wasn't ready to get up for anyone – for at least a week. He didn't have to wait long before Wilson let himself in; of course, House wasn't about to let him know that he was grateful for not having to leave his position on the couch.
"Why bother knocking when you have a key?"
"Err, you could have been naked or anything…" Wilson said, pausing as he took in the harsh reality that House actually did seem to be naked from where he was standing by the door.
"So you gave me all of what…10 seconds, to get dressed." House said, still facing the television; twisting to look at Wilson wasn't on his list of 'things that are possible with broken ribs'.
"Which obviously wasn't long enough...?" Wilson noted, daring to walk around the couch; much to his relief, House still had the towel wrapped around his waist.
House looked up at him, obviously remembering that he was semi naked and feeling a little self conscious, luckily he was saved by the phone ringing. When neither he nor Wilson made an attempt to answer he had to speak up; "Are you gonna get me the phone; prove that you didn't just come round hoping I was naked?" his friend scowled and stalked off to get the phone.
"It's Cuddy" he said, checking the caller i.d.
"Ugh, I'm not here" House whined, turning the volume on the television up as if it would make Cuddy stop ringing.
"Then why am I even here?" Wilson sighed, resigning himself to answer, "Hello"
"Wilson? Where's House?" Cuddy asked immediately.
"Well he's currently sprawled out on the couch watching…err, you'd rather not know what he's watching actually…" Wilson chuckled as he took the phone into the kitchen, away from the moaning and groaning coming from the t.v set; House had managed to find the only erotic channel that showed 24hour porno.
House grinned to himself as he watched Wilson leave the room looking embarrassed, he then muted the volume and eavesdropped on the conversation; his curiosity telling him that Cuddy would only ring if it was important – something must be up.
"I need him to come in for another x ray." Cuddy stated sounding deadly serious.
"He had one earlier didn't he?" Wilson asked, catching House staring at him from the couch before turning and pretending to be engrossed in the programme once more.
"There was a lot of swelling before; we just need to get a clearer image."
"Okay" he replied uneasily, "He looks fine now - why are you worrying so much?"
"Wilson, have you seen it?" Cuddy hissed down the line, "I've been trying to contact the both of you all afternoon – doesn't anyone answer their phone any more?"
"The x ray wait 'til morning cant it? It's just swelling, which isn't exactly uncommon with breaks."
"Yeah…" Cuddy didn't sound very convincing, "just keep an eye on him okay? Take a look at the ribs – see if the swelling's gone down; let me know when it does..."
"I can't just baby-sit him all night" Wilson laughed, "Regardless of what House tells you, I actually do have a life!" he looked round to catch House regarding him with a look of annoyance on his face. 'Busted'
He quickly said his goodbyes to Cuddy before returning to the dragon's den; House had turned some medical type programme on and was busy diagnosing each patient under his breath; he looked pissed.
"Cuddy wants me to check out your war wounds" Wilson stated nonchalantly; House shrugged in response and waved a hand over his torso, apparently motioning where he should look; although it wasn't hard to miss the gigantic area of bruising from where he was standing.
"She seems to think I know a lot about broken bones…must have been the doctor's coat that confused her" Wilson joked but got no response from the older man, 'yep, he heard you and now he's sulking.'
House braced himself on the couch for the procedurally poking and prodding; 'damn doctors, always wanting to stick their fingers in the painful area to see where it hurts – as if it isn't clearly marked out in a nice shade of blue for them to see already!'
He hissed as Wilson caught a particularly tender spot; "you're enjoying this immensely aren't you?" he gasped in agony.
"Me? No, as if I'd enjoy seeing my best friend in pain" Wilson chuckled, backing off to give House room to catch his breath back; "How are you feeling?"
"I'm just peachy now that you've indulged your sadistic nature by poking my broken ribs"
"You haven't asked what Cuddy wanted…"
"I kinda assumed it was rib related; unless she called to find out what I'm wearing?" House straightened up as best he could and grabbed a cushion to hug against his sore mid section.
"I'll get you some clothes…then I'd better be off-"
"Hot date?" House asked innocently, knowing full well that Wilson was taking out the cute nurse tonight for their first proper 'date' together; he received a scowl and a t shirt thrown at his head in reply; he'd been annoying the hell out of Wilson all day about his new, extremely young romantic interest, this was his payback. "You'd better hurry or you'll never make your reservation; Pizza Hut are strict on waiting times..." he smirked annoyingly.
"I don't know why Cuddy seems to think I actually enjoy your company and would be willing to stick around while you recover from injuries that were completely brought on by yourself..." Wilson shot back, vexed.
"If you hadn't left so early I would never have fallen asleep on the couch in the first place-"
"Sorry, I forgot this was all my fault!" Wilson exclaimed defensively as he gave up on the argument and left, making sure to subtly slam the door behind him on his way out.
"You don't have to be so melodramatic" House yelled to the closed door, not sure if he'd been heard or not by his annoyed friend.
He'd been feeling very left out lately, so naturally he'd let Wilson know; now, they seemed to be spending less time together and what time they did have with each other, they fought like a couple of adolescent school children. Jealousy was a strange emotion...
The most recent bout of yelling seemed to have been 'a bad idea' House thought as he began to feel a little light headed; he shifted uncomfortably, groaning as he found out that propping himself against the arm of the couch would be the only way he could lay without his ribs arguing with him too.
He dozed, grumpily as he watched a repeat of some cop drama he couldn't remember the name of; he barely heard his phone ringing in the kitchen as he drifted off in a deep sleep, unaware of the true extent of damage the broken ribs had actually caused...
Author's Note: Sorry it's only a short chapter...just lay back and enjoy the slow burn (makes a change from my other fics!) I may update tomorrow...then again, it's my birthday, so who knows!