Title: You Could Be Happy
Author: Kayla, but if you like this at all you can call me whatever you want.
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: House, Wilson, House/Wilson, Wilson/Cuddy
Summary: You'll stand in front of the woman you love with the man you love by your side, and she'll know you kissed him, but she won't say a thing and she'll marry you anyway.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Well, I mean…I own things, but nothing in this story.
"You're getting married to Cuddy tomorrow." The way he says it makes it sound like the words taste bad in his mouth. You just roll your eyes.
"Yes, I'm aware. I was there when I proposed." You take another sip of the beer in your hand. You're feeling pleasantly buzzed, but it's more from the fact that you're getting married than from all the drinks you've had tonight.
"You better not fuck this one up. If she divorces you, I'm going to have to deal with her wrath after she fires your ass." He pops a Vicodin and swallows it down with the rest of his beer. You watch as he limps to the kitchen and comes back with a couple of glasses and some scotch in his hands. He sits the glasses on the table in front of you and pours the amber liquid into them.
"I won't mess this up." You say before downing the drink. It burns your throat, but he's already pouring you another glass, so you won't care much about the burn pretty soon.
"You love her?" He asks.
You nod and a smile spreads across your face, "Yeah…I do."
He doesn't answer and for the next hour you just sit in silence, drinking the scotch and staring at the blank TV.
"I'm only going to say this once, because I figure you're drunk enough now that you'll forget it in the morning anyways." He breaks the silence, but he doesn't move his head to look at you. You're really not that drunk, but the only time he opens up to you is when he thinks you won't remember, so you're not about to tell him the truth now.
"Take care of her, okay? She deserves it. She doesn't fall in love easily so this is…important to her. It's…special." He stumbles over the last word, and it makes you smile. "Let her take care of you, too. You never let anyone take care of you, but you should. She'll know what's best for you 'cause she's Cuddy and she knows those kind of things." At this you chuckle because you know House is a lot drunker than you are right now, but you don't interrupt and he didn't seem to notice that you laughed.
"There's one more thing…" He pauses as though he's unsure if he should continue. Silence fills the room once again, and the minutes tick by. After what feels like an eternity, he opens his mouth to finish speaking, "I love your lying, cheating, manipulative ass."
His ice blue eyes finally meet yours, and you know your mouth is hanging open. You search for something to say. Telling him that you love him too is on the tip of your tongue, but you're getting married to Cuddy in less than twenty four hours, so now is really not a good time to be telling your best friend that you're in love with him.
"House…"
"It would be better if you didn't say anything. We'll both forget this in the morning anyways. I just needed to tell you because I'll never get the chance again. You're getting married to Cuddy….this one's going to last. She makes you happy. No one's ever been able to do that. So let her, and stop being miserable because of me. If you care about me at all, then you'll promise me that you'll be happy with her."
In a moment of impulsiveness and complete stupidity, you lean into him and press your lips against his. It's chaste and over far too soon, but you'll remember it forever. You don't give him a chance to react before you pull away. If he mentions it tomorrow you can always blame it on the alcohol.
"I promise."
Tomorrow morning you'll wake up on House's couch. He'll have remembered every single detail of this conversation, and you'll let him think you forgot it completely. He'll stand around and make fun of you for marrying Cuddy while you're putting on your tux. You'll have to physically force him into his own tux, and then he'll get in as many lewd remarks about Cuddy's breasts as he can before you make her your wife. He'll ride to the church with you. You'll stand in front of the woman you love with the man you love by your side, and she'll know you kissed him, but she won't say a thing and she'll marry you anyway.
It won't be perfect, but nothing between the three of you will ever be perfect, and you wouldn't have it any other way.