House MD Oneshots + Imagines

Why? (Gregory House x Reader)

On a normal day, to normal people, Gregory House is what most would call a complete and utter asshole. He pranks them, inconveniences, pesters, and makes mean jokes about them until they explode. Usually, there's a reason for it that makes sense in his own mind, but most would still argue that it's still not justified.

Three of said people are sitting in front of him in the diagnostics' meeting room; Chase, Cameron, and Foreman. Next to them is you, his new hire, who he advocated for to get some extra help. You're a cardiologist, and in the past few weeks you've been working at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital, you've made some diagnoses come a lot quicker than the other three. Wilson has been busy as the head of oncology, so he hasn't been much help, Cameron and Chase are at an awkward stage in their relationship that distracts them from their jobs, and Foreman- well, Foreman is incredibly helpful, but House won't admit that. Then, there's you.

House doesn't praise you, and he isn't necessarily nice to you either. He's not like that. But, he knows that his relationship with you is a little different. Maybe he likes you, maybe he sees you as a friend, maybe it bothers him that he hasn't been able to pick apart every little thing he hates about you yet- because there is nothing to hate so far. You're kind, agreeable, intelligent, and you do your job. You're not a pushover, either. If anything, he should consider you relatively boring- and he thinks he would were you literally anyone else- but he just can't . Something about you fascinates him.

His mean jokes are really just about how pretty you are, and that's all he can come up with. It's embarrassing, even if he's confident that no one else has noticed.

He realizes that, while you all were talking about the case, he zoned out staring at you. When he zones back in, he's faced with four sets of eyes; one seafoam, one ocean blue, one mahogany brown, one (e/c).

"House? Did you even hear anything we said?" Cameron complains and pushes her hair away from her face.

"Yeah, staring at (y/n) like you always do isn't going to help our case," Chase is quick to point out, which has you sputtering from where you're sitting.

"Oh, no, it's not like that- he's probably just looking at me because I'm sick!" You rush to explain.

"You're what ?" House demands, surprised that he didn't notice it earlier, but it's true- you're less energetic than usual and you've been holding your head in your hands most of the time you've been sitting down, looking away from the lights like you have a headache. "If you're sick, go home."

"But I don't want to waste my sick days," You whine, wringing your hands together. "And it's just a stomach bug!"

"I'll give you as many of my sick days as you need," House offers, which takes him by surprise when he realizes what he's just said. He would usually never do that for anyone but Wilson. "Now leave before you get all of us sick."

"Okay, fine," You acquiesce, grabbing your things and standing up. "Feel free to call me if you guys need anything, okay? Just because I'll be at home recovering doesn't mean that I'm useless."

"Let me know if you need anything. I don't mind dropping by with some medicine or some food after I get off, okay?" Cameron says, beating House to what he wants to say, and then, you're nodding and leaving.

House sighs.

"How out of character for you," Chase says under his breath, which makes House want to argue, but he finds that he can't.

Admittedly, House does treat you a little more nicely than the rest of the diagnostics team. He's not overly kind, but he doesn't shoot down your ideas or make any jokes about you that are particularly mean compared to the others, and while he does eat out of your lunch, he's usually the one who offers to buy it for you in the first place and you always offer to share.