storypaint | Strikeout (House/Cuddy, Wilson/Cuddy)

Comm: 31_days theme exchange
Words: 683
Title: Strikeout
Day/Theme: 08 // the disenfranchised masses will run you through
Series: House
Character/Pairing: Wilson/Cuddy, with strong hints of House/Cuddy
Rating: G
Disclaimer: House, M.D. belongs to Fox.

Summary: House, Wilson, and Cuddy go to a baseball game. House would have enjoyed it a lot more had Cuddy and Wilson not been gazing into each other's eyes the whole time, messing up the testosterone in the stadium.

"So why are we doing this again?" House asked. The kid sitting in front of him had his baseball cap on backwards and House was toying with the idea of using his cane to knock the hat off.

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "We're not at the hospital. For the next few hours, I'm not your boss. So you don't have to act like this is torture, House." The home team got a run and the crowd erupted in cheers. Cuddy and Wilson stood up and cheered with the rest of them. House plotted for a moment. When they sat back down, he spoke.

"Not my boss, hmm... Then a rebellion sounds like a good idea. I'll hold her down and you can use the knife, Wilson. Sic semper tyrannis!"

Wilson laughed indulgently and smiled at Cuddy. She smiled back in the sickly sweet manner of a new lover. House's eyebrow twitched.

"When he's done with you, you will rather have been stabbed," he muttered under his breath, but the two were focused only on each other. Honestly, it was disgusting him. You'd think that anyone looking at Wilson's track record would know better.

"Did you say something, House?" Wilson said in a distracted voice, not glancing past Cuddy. House shook his head.

The home team lost, but the three of them were in no hurry to battle the crowds and find the car. They sat in the stadium until it was almost empty.

"Meet you at the door?" Wilson offered, pulling his keys from his pocket.

"Wonderful," Cuddy said. She let him hug her for a moment in a way that suggested to House that it would be no lonely hotel room for Wilson tonight.

Wilson walked away, humming under his breath. Cuddy looked at House.

"Was that honestly so bad?" she asked, rising from her seat. After a moment of cane-juggling House managed the same.

"To have to spend time with you? No," House said, his smile lasting through the next words, "it was absolutely not as bad as being mauled by a bear, for example. Or treed by Old Man Robinson's doberman. At least you're more pleasant to look at when you sink your teeth into somebody."

"I'll take that as a compliment, I guess," she said, rolling her eyes again. They walked leisurely in the direction of the stadium entrance, dodging the few remaining spectators, who were for the most part drunken and disorderly.

"It's a better compliment than I usually give Wilson. Don't tell, he'll be jealous."

"Why are you always so down on him, anyway?" Cuddy said, lifting an eyebrow. "He puts up with more of your crap than anybody."

"That's why," House said. "I'm tearing down his self-worth so he can better serve me in the New World Order."

Cuddy laughed. "Sounds like a scary thing."

"We haven't even gotten to the part about you yet," House promised. At that moment they reached the entrance and saw Wilson waiting with the car.

"What about me?" Cuddy asked, opening the car door. House wagged his eyebrows suggestively and she laughed again.

"What's so funny?" Wilson asked as the two slid into his car.

"New World Order," House said. "You have a place as my footstool, if you want it. A very high offer. All Cuddy is getting is a position as sex slave... Unless you want to apply for that too?"

"I'll pass," Wilson said dryly. "When is this coming into effect?"

"Well, we're not at the hospital and she's not my boss right now..." House said laviciously.

"Sorry, she's mine for the night," Wilson said, meeting House's eyes in the rear view mirror as he merged into traffic. His gaze was a warning. House could have given him a warning too, about the stupidity of dating one's boss when he was a serial cheater.

"Well, I pity you," House said. He waved cheesily at them when Wilson dropped him off. Cuddy didn't notice, resting her head on Wilson's shoulder. They drove away without looking back.

"It wasn't too torturous," House muttered, going into his lonely house.