018. Black
Motivation
"You will attend," Cuddy said with exasperation verging on irritation. "You will attend the Hospital fundraiser. It is a black tie event. You will wear a tuxedo and you will be polite to the hospital's donors. You will stay for a minimum of two hours and that means in the room with everyone else, not off hiding somewhere with Dr Wilson. And in return, if and only if you do all of this, I will give you all of next week off from clinic duty."
Cuddy stood in the middle of House's office as she lay that ultimatum down, her hands on her hips and an intractable expression on her face. In return House was slumped truculently in his chair with a sullen, sulky look. Privately Cuddy thought he was outdoing her five year old nephew in that department.
"Why do I have to go?" House whined. "Take Cameron or Chase. They're pretty enough to please the donors."
"Drs Cameron and Chase, along with Dr Foreman, are already going," Cuddy said as patiently as she could manage. "However you are the Head of Diagnostic Medicine and as such are required to be there." She paused and decided to ratchet the stakes up a little. "If you do not attend and abide by all the conditions I mentioned, I will add twenty clinic hours to what you already owe."
"You can't do that!" House yelped indignantly.
Cuddy smirked at him. "I'm the boss. I can do whatever I like. Now which is it? The fundraiser or twenty more hours of hell?"
House sulked for a moment then muttered sourly, "The fundraiser."
"Excellent!" Cuddy said cheerfully then she turned and walked smartly out of the office.
House made a face at her retreating back then slumped down further in his chair, looking surly and morose. He loathed events like the upcoming fundraiser with a passion and had done his best to avoid going; he just hadn't expected Cuddy would be so ruthless.
"I take it from your air of specific miserableness that she blackmailed you into to going on Saturday night?"
House turned his head to see Wilson walking in from the balcony and he grunted in reply.
"How did she do it?" Wilson asked with an air of repressed amusement.
"Threatened me with twenty more clinic hours," House replied sullenly. "She says I have to wear a tux and I have to stay in the room. For two hours."
A smile curved Wilson's lips. "Good. I like seeing you in a tux. It suits you."
House's lips twitched into a sneer that not even the veiled desire in Wilson's eyes could shift. He and Wilson had been lovers for just two weeks and normally that look in Wilson's eyes would have him searching for an empty, lockable room but right now he was far too irritated that Cuddy had managed to outmanoeuvre him so effectively to respond.
"Of course, I'd rather see you out of your tux but I think we can manage two hours of hands-off foreplay in public," Wilson said blandly.
That got a bit more of a reaction out of House. He raised an eyebrow at Wilson, some of his bad mood slipping away as he remembered that Wilson would be going as well…and wearing a tuxedo as well.
"You might want to shave though," Wilson continued thoughtfully.
"Cuddy didn't say anything about that," House countered with a smirk.
Wilson just gave him a warm look. "That one's not for Cuddy."
House's breath caught for a moment then a small smile broke out on his face.
"Two hours of foreplay, huh?" he said with a leer.
"Hands-off foreplay," Wilson corrected. "Think of it as a challenge."
"You in a tuxedo with two hours of hands-off foreplay," House mused. "Now there's an offer I can't refuse. Just as well you didn't get here before Cuddy. I might not have next week off from clinic duty."
"Well, that would have been a tragedy," Wilson said dryly. "Now since you don't have a patient and I don't have any meetings for the rest of the afternoon, want to adjourn this to my office? My nice, lacking all the glass walls office?"
House smirked and leered again. He grabbed his cane and pushed himself to his feet.
"You do have some good ideas every now and then."