042. Triangle

Cameron's Paperweight

House propped his cane against the bathroom sink and peered into the mirror. The fingers of one hand crept up and pulled away the small bandage on his face then fingered the small triangle-shaped wound on his cheekbone under his right eye. He winced as he stared at himself though not because the wound was especially painful. It wasn't particularly painful to a man such as himself who lived daily with a far greater pain. He winced because for the first time he realised why Wilson had been so pale while he was treating the wound. He'd come perilously close to some serious eye damage, maybe even to losing the eye completely.

"Don't play with it," came Wilson's voice from behind him. "And put the bandage back on."

House prodded at the wound again as Wilson came up behind him. Wilson wrapped one arm around his waist and captured the hand poking at the wound with his other, dragging it away from his face. He rested his chin on House's shoulder and sighed, his breath across his neck creating shivers in House.

"Too close," Wilson murmured, his arms tightening around his lover.

House was silent as he stared at the wound in the mirror, subtly leaning back into Wilson's embrace, seeking a comfort he couldn't bring himself to ask for.

Wilson's arms tightened again, providing the unasked for comfort. "What are you going to do?"

House's silence continued for a long moment then he finally spoke.

"Nothing."

"What?" Wilson's voice, though quiet, was indignant. "She could have blinded you."

"She was angry," House replied with a slight shrug.

"That's no excuse," Wilson replied.

"I made her angry," House countered with another tiny shrug. "I pushed. She finally snapped. It was bound to happen eventually."

"She threw a paperweight at you," Wilson protested. "She could have hurt you badly."

"It was only a small paperweight," House said with yet another tiny shrug.

"House…"

"And it only hit me because I didn't duck fast enough," House said quickly, not letting Wilson finish whatever he was going to say.

"So you're just going to do nothing?" Wilson said with a sigh.

"I goaded her," House said, a hint of impatience creeping into his voice. "And I did it deliberately. I actually thought you'd be telling me I deserved what I got."

In the mirror, House saw Wilson close his eyes and shift his head so that his forehead was resting on his shoulder.

"God, there was so much blood," Wilson murmured, his voice muffled.

"Head wounds always bleed like a son of a bitch, you know that," House said dryly as he turned around, carefully bracing himself against the sink then pulling Wilson closer.

Wilson came willingly and House smirked as his lover did his best limpet imitation.

"You do realise there was absolutely no chance of me dying of this injury," House said with a snicker. "Therefore your current position, while fun and kinda flattering, is probably better saved for when I really piss someone off."

He got a short, muffled laugh for that comment.

"Besides did you see Cameron's face when she saw all the blood?" House continued with another snicker. "She looked like she was trying to decide between fainting, helping or committing hara-kiri with the nearest pencil. I'll be able to palm my clinic hours off on her for weeks, maybe even months! I'm not even going to think about firing her. I love the guilty, they're so much fun."

Wilson's head shot up and he gave his lover an appalled look. "You're going to take advantage of this?"

House frowned. "Hey, you were the one wanting me to fire Cameron. Why is my idea bad and yours good?"

"She assaulted her boss," Wilson said with a frown.

"I made her," House replied with a careless shrug. "Or goaded her into it. Same, same."

"So that makes it okay?" Wilson said dubiously.

"If I'm not pissed then what does it matter," House replied testily then he sighed. "Look, I'm…sorry you got freaked by what happened."

Wilson sighed as well and shook his head. "I'll get over it," he said with resignation. "Just…try not to goad any of your ducklings into trying to kill you again. Please, for my sake?"

House laughed at that. "Now that's a promise I can't make but hey, I'll try."

Wilson rolled his eyes. "Well, if that's the best you can do."

House grinned. "Definitely. Now shouldn't there be something like life-affirming sex about now?"

"I thought you said there was no chance of you dying from your injury?" Wilson said levelly though he knew House could see in his eyes how much the idea appealed to him.

"Well, you never know," House said, waggling his eyebrows.

Wilson considered it for a moment as House's hands drifted down to his arse then he shrugged. "Why not?"

House gave him a feral grin, making the triangular wound on his cheek shift slightly. "Bedroom," he all but growled.

Wilson briefly pondered whether he should really find House growling orders at him so unbelievably hot but quickly abandoned that thought in favour of getting to the bedroom; he had better things to think about.