044. Circle

It's All Foreman's Fault.

(Continuation of 048. Diamond)

House limped into the Diagnostic Medicine conference room, a small diamond glinting in the lobe of one ear and a big, wide, ridiculously smug grin on his face. Not far from the diamond earring, on his neck, there was a livid hickey, which he was making no effort to hide.

"And how are we all this wonderful and delightfully cheery morning?" he said enthusiastically as he dropped his bag by the door of his office and headed for the coffee pot.

Cameron, Chase and Foreman exchanged startled, wide-eyed glances then stared at House warily as he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Are you…" Cameron began carefully before breaking off and staring at House in surprise. "Wearing an earring?" she continued, sounding as though she doubted her own eyes.

"Is that a hickey?" Chase said, hard on her heels, his eyes getting wider by the minute.

House put down the coffee pot and turned to look at them, his smile bright even as he took a sip from his cup.

"Yep!" he said with a waggle of his eyebrows. "It's all Foreman's fault."

Chase and Cameron's heads swivelled around in almost perfect unison to stare at Foreman.

"He lost that bet we made," Foreman said with an unfriendly look at House.

Both Chase and Cameron blinked, once again in that almost perfect unison.

"So…you gave him a…a hickey?" Chase said oh-so-carefully.

"No!" Foreman said indignantly. "The earring! He lost the bet so he has to wear the damn earring for six months."

"Oh," Chase said then he frowned and looked over at House again. "So who gave you the hickey?"

House smiled brightly again. "Not telling," he said in a manner reminiscent of a five year old before he limped over, picked up his bag and disappeared into his office.

There was a long moment of silence in the conference room then Chase carefully cleared his throat and looked over at Foreman.

"Okay, let me get this straight," he said carefully as Cameron stared into nothing with a frown on her face. "You made a bet with House, he actually lost and as a result he has to wear an earring for six months?"

"Yes," Foreman said impatiently.

"But you had nothing to do with the hickey?" Chase asked.

Foreman made a disgusted noise. "Of course not!"

"Okay," Chase said with an eerie calm. "Just checking."

The door opened at that point and Wilson ambled in, a small, slightly self-satisfied smile on his face. He eyed the three young doctors with curiosity and shoved his hands into the pockets of his lab coat.

"Everything okay?" he said mildly though there was a hint of humour lurking deep in his eyes.

"House has a hickey," Foreman said grumpily as though that explained everything.

"Okay," Wilson said after a moment of silence.

"And he's acting weird," Cameron added.

"I think he's been replaced by a pod person," Chase supplied sagely.

Wilson smothered a smile and eyed the three doctors benignly. "Well, I'll just go and have a talk with him then."

Wilson gave them his best I-know-what-I'm-doing smile then turned and wandered into House's office. He waited until the door closed behind him then started laughing.

"I think they are officially freaked out," he said merrily.

"Good," House said smugly from where he was slouched in the chair behind his desk. "So why are you here?"

"Curiosity mostly," Wilson replied, ambling over and sitting down in his normal chair.

"And the rest of why you're here?" House asked.

Wilson grinned and pulled a small box out of the pocket of his lab coat. He offered it to House and the older man raised an eyebrow then shrugged and took the box. He eyed it for a moment then opened it. When he saw what was inside, his other eyebrow went up then he grinned at Wilson. He reached into the box, pulled out a small gold circle and held it up curiously.

"You bought me an earring?" he said curiously.

"Yep," Wilson replied smugly.

"Um, why?" House replied, not looking at all disturbed by the idea.

"I thought it would feel a bit different when I went after your earlobe again," Wilson said blandly.

Heat flared momentarily in House's eye then placed the small gold circle on his desk. He then reached up and carefully pulled out the diamond stud. He put that on the desk then with a wince, he opened the sleeper and threaded it through the hole in his earlobe. Once that was done, he looked over at Wilson and grinned.

"Well?" he said archly.

Wilson raised an eyebrow then got up out of his chair and almost prowled around to the other side of the desk. House watched his approach with growing amusement.

"There is a great deal of glass involved in the construction of this office," he said mildly.

"So?" Wilson replied, bracing his hands on the armrests of House's chair.

"Just pointing that out," House said, licking his lips and swallowing hard as he turned his head so that the ear with the earring was on display

"Thanks for that," Wilson said before he leaned forward and sucked House's adorned earlobe into his mouth.

He swirled his tongue around and even through the gold circle, drawing a serious of inarticulate moans and unintelligible words from House. He finally let the earring and earlobe go and stepped back from House's chair.

"Mmm, it does feel different," he said with satisfaction.

"Unh," was all House was able to manage.

Wilson snuck a quick look over towards the conference room where Chase, Cameron and Foreman were staring at them with looks of stunned surprise on their faces.

"Guess your team knows where you got that hickey now," he said mildly.

"Unh-huh," House said as he slowly started to pull himself back together.

"I think I'd better go now," Wilson said, his lips twitching as he struggled not to smile.

He'd made it all the way to the door that led to the corridor before House's voice reached him.

"You'll get yours tonight."

Wilson froze just for a second at the low, heated promise in that voice then he smiled and kept walking.