028. Arrival

He's Right?

Wilson waited at the arrival gate and watched through the window as the plane pulled up to the terminal. House had been finagled into going to a conference in California by Cuddy to present a paper on one of his more interesting cases. He'd been calling nightly from Los Angeles, usually with a collection of scandalous stories about what his fellow doctors had been up to or what mistakes others had made in the cases they were presenting. But three nights ago House had changed; he'd called but he'd been sullen and taciturn, snarling sarcastic remarks and refusing to allow Wilson to jolly him into a better mood. The last couple of nights he'd been exactly the same and Wilson hadn't been entirely sure whether to be annoyed or worried.

He knew House's presentation had gone well; House had said so and he'd gotten a couple of emails from other doctors he knew who were at the conference to confirm that. When House had gone sullen on him, he'd contacted a couple of those doctors and asked a few discreet questions of them. The replies he'd received had increased his worry. They didn't really know much, just that House had had a…well, one termed it a heated discussion, the other doctor said it was an argument…with a colleague and that House had stormed off in a fury. The thing that worried him was that both friends said that the colleague House had been arguing with looked smugly superior when House walked away. Neither had heard what the argument was about and nor had anyone they knew. As far as they could tell, though the discussion had been heated, it had also been quiet.

Wilson pushed away from the window as the door to the jetway opened and the first passengers started to appear. House was one of them and Wilson inwardly groaned at the expression on the other man's face. House looked grim and sullen and that didn't bode well for anyone. And from the sharp, guarded look and the terse nod House was given by the flight attendant at the door, he'd obviously made everyone's life a living hell on the plane.

When House saw him his expression suddenly shifted and he looked something akin to a man who was taking the bull by the horns. Wilson watched with curiosity as House limped over to him, dropped his bag and grabbed his tie.

"House?" was all he had time to get out before House pulled him into a kiss.

Surprise kept him still at first then thoughts of warm, good, House, yes, mine flooded through his mind and he wrapped a hand around the back of House's neck and returned the kiss with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. When they broke apart, they were both breathing heavily and out of the corner of his eye Wilson could see the other passengers eyeing them with various degrees of amusement, curiosity, disapproval and interest. He kept his attention on House and let the thumb of the hand that had ended up at House's waist gently caress the other man's side through his shirt.

House gave him a quirk of a smile. "Hey," he said, letting the questions be implied rather than said.

"You should argue with other doctors at conferences more often," Wilson offered speculative in return.

He was rewarded by the flash of remembered annoyance in House's eyes.

"You had sources," House complained.

Wilson leaned over and picked up House's bag before gently nudging him and getting them moving towards the exit.

"Of course I had sources," he said dryly. "I'll bet Cuddy does as well. You're a menace."

House gave him a shark-like grin. "Only when it's deserved."

"Yeah, right," Wilson said drolly. "Anyway, my sources told me about your…discussion. Do I want to know what it was about?"

"Do you care?"

Wilson considered that. "I'm not sure. I suppose it depends on why you kissed me."

"I wanted to," House said with a shrug. "It was my decision."

Wilson nodded. "Then I guess I don't care that much. Should I thank him?"

"No," House said with a scowl. "He's not right."

Wilson swallowed a grin. "Of course not," he said calmly.

House shot him a suspicious look then relaxed into a grin. "So do you want to know what else I can do after an argument?"

"Why not?" Wilson said mildly and walked out of the airport with House's whispered suggestive comments in his ear.