092. Christmas

Presents

Wilson slumped in the chair behind his desk and scowled at the paperwork that had accumulated in the last few days. It was one of the curses of being Jewish; everyone assumed you were happy to work over Christmas. In truth, he hated working at Christmas, especially Christmas Day. It started out quiet enough but shortly after lunch you'd get the first influx of people with indigestion who swore they were having a heart attack, the endless stream of kids who'd stuck some part of one of their Christmas presents somewhere it definitely wasn't supposed to go and then, as the day wore on, it would be the real injuries. The ones that came from the fights caused by too much Christmas cheer and too many people in the one room.

And this year was worse because House wasn't here. House normally wasn't one to celebrate Christmas; in fact he usually did a very good impression of Ebenezer Scrooge. As a result Cuddy always conned him into working and they spend some time together, moaning about the holiday and assorted other trivialities…defining the levels of Dante's hell one year in fact. But this year House's mother had importuned him for weeks about coming over for Christmas lunch and he'd had finally given in about two weeks ago.

Wilson sighed and got up, slouching over to the couch and sitting down with a thump. Technically his shift was over and he could go home but between the combination of a couple of doctors not having turned up as yet and the fact that he really didn't want to go back to an apartment empty of House, he couldn't really motivate himself to move. He let his head fall onto the back of the couch and closed his eyes, not bothering to move when he heard the door open.

"Your shift's been over for two hours, what are you still doing here?"

Wilson's eyes flew open and he looked around to see House leaning on his cane in front of the closed door, clean-shaven for once and wearing a neatly pressed suit…though without a tie.

"What are you doing here?" he asked with surprise. "I thought you were having Christmas lunch with your parents."

House limped over and sat down next to him, his expression dark and thunderous. "I was," was all he would say.

Wilson sighed and had to squelch the urge to take House's hand. "What did you do?"

House's scowl was directed at Wilson for a moment. "Why do you always assume it was me?"

"Fair point," Wilson conceded. "Let me rephrase that. What happened?"

House sat in sullen silence, thumping his cane furiously against the floor. Wilson waited patiently, fairly sure there'd been yet another clash between father and son but knowing it would be better if House actually told him.

"Mom asked if there was…anyone in my life," House snapped with angry mocking.

Wilson blinked, that wasn't exactly what he was expecting. "Doesn't she always ask something along those lines?" he asked carefully. "Even I'm getting that question again from my Mom now that the divorce is through."

"Bet your Dad doesn't then suggest that the only reason you're alone is because you're being selfish and self-indulgent," House snarled.

Wilson sighed; he figured John House probably hadn't said it in quite that fashion but that was certainly how House had heard it.

"I'm sure he didn't really mean it like that," he said soothingly.

Some of the anger rather suddenly drained out of House and he winced. "I…made it worse," he said reluctantly.

"Ah," Wilson said with well-hidden amusement. "And how did you do that?"

"I…suggested I was…seeing someone," House replied, hunching in on himself in a fashion that confused Wilson.

Wilson blinked and considered that. "Well, okay, probably not the wisest thing to do in front of your parents. Who did you suggest you were seeing? Cameron? They've met her, haven't they?"

"No, not her," House muttered, his gaze glued to where his hands were clutching the handle of his cane.

"Who then?" Wilson asked. "Please tell me you didn't imply it was Stacy."

House shook his head sharply and frowned. When he stayed silent, Wilson placed a hand on his shoulder, his eyes widening slightly when House flinched at his touch. He didn't remove his hand though and leaned slightly towards his friend.

"Who was it?" he asked quietly as a thin suspicion started to rear its head.

There was a long moment of silence then House said very softly, "You."

"Ah," Wilson said as amusement and a vague longing that what House said were true settling in his chest. "I take it your Dad didn't react too well to the idea?"

House snorted. "You could say that."

"He's…ex-military," Wilson replied. "That could explain his reaction."

By this stage House had turned his head to stare at Wilson. "What explains your reaction?" he demanded. "I thought you'd be pissed at me."

Wilson was silent for a moment. "How would you react if I said…would that it were true?"

House's eyes widened for a second then something flared in them. "Like this."

He grabbed Wilson's tie and yanked him forward into a heated, sloppy kiss, full of passion, desire and pent-up longing. Wilson returned the kiss with enthusiasm, vaguely hearing the sound of House's cane falling to the floor before a hand buried itself in his hair. He let himself be pushed down onto the cushions of the couch, moaning at the feel of House's body pressing down on his. Suddenly he pushed House away a couple of inches, breaking the kiss. House blinked at him and Wilson saw the beginnings of hurt in those eyes and saw the barriers start to come up.

"Let me lock the door," he said hastily, relieved to see the barriers fall again just as quickly. "Last thing we need is someone to come barging in full of the Christmas spirit and catch us."

House considered that for a moment then smiled heatedly as he sat up again, allowing Wilson to get up. "Hurry up. I want to unwrap my Christmas present."

Wilson paused halfway to the door and laughed. "Should I wear a bow?"

House waited until he had locked the door. "Wear whatever you want. Still going to be the best damn Christmas present I ever got."