[for greg]

[more_flexible]

[Morning of March 22]

It began with one off-hand comment. "Why don't you dig up Faramir and make me a pocketwatch out of him?" At the time, he had scoffed, asking if House wanted him to go blind making the teeny pieces.

But the man should know by now that Jack had a literal streak a mile wide, and if House wanted something...anything...Jack would make sure he had it.

He'd spent a week at Stu's, eating roast dinosaur and talking to the man about Texas, Sam Houston, Arnette, the plague, the future, the baby, Jane...whatever came up between the long gaps of silence as they both worked. Stu on the toys for the kids and Jack on the itty bitty pieces of bone which he chipped and carved and shaped and polished and assembled just as the book the shelf had given him clearly illustrated. It wasn't that hard, all gears and a spring. He'd had a harder time repairing his ship. Hell, it was harder to repair a automobile than to build one of these things from scratch.

And it wasn't like there was a shortage of bone now. All he needed was to wait for it to dry out a little. The bone he'd used for Greg's watch was dry enough to wind up with something he was really happy with.

He hoped Greg would be happy with it, too.

Comments

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I don't know. I just like how you, I don't know, relax. With me."

[misanthrope_md]

"Well, yes, there is that. It's nice that I don't have to pretend to be happy to you. I don't have to pretend to not be in pain because that's what I'm expected so not to make people uncomfortable."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You never have to pretend anything, Greg," he purred, rubbing across his shoulders. "I don't care what people think or say, as long as you and me don't have secrets."

[misanthrope_md]

House nodded, dropping his head a little so that Jack could reach his neck as well. "Well, you got my big one out of me."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He shifted to slide behind him and rub his shoulders with both hands. "Feel like I should have some clue of what to give you back for that."

[misanthrope_md]

"Not making me talk about it would be sufficient," House said quietly. "God, I just... if my father ever shows up on this island I..." He couldn't even finish because he didn't know how to. What would he do? Feel like throwing himself in with the dinosaurs, most likely.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You'll point him out," Jack said quietly, that hint of steel to his voice that gave him away far too often. "And I'll take care of it."

[misanthrope_md]

House shook his head. "He is my father." There was no use in worrying about it anyway. Besides, it wasn't as if he was scared of him, not anymore - though he could imagine few things that would rouse that sort of visceral disapproval than finding out that his son is fucking men.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

Jack bit back the burning in his heart and his eyes and laid his cheek on Greg's shoulder. In his opinion, what he'd done to Greg took the right to the title away from the man.

"Let's talk about something else," he said after a minute.

[misanthrope_md]

"All right," said House. "What do you want to talk about?" He yawned a little and in the sudden stillness couldn't help from bringing the watch out of his pocket and looking at it again.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

He moved enough to kiss the back of Greg's neck, rubbing his shoulders again. "I don't know. Tell me again how you're the coolest fucking doctor here."

[misanthrope_md]

House snorted. "I don't know about that - you weren't impressed by Chase with the power drill? I think we're pretty even with the cool medical shit at the moment."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I was kind of trying not to watch," he admitted quietly. "Kind of surprised me, all the blood and...yeah."

Surprised wasn't quite the word. He'd never really seen gore that way before. Before it had been part of the job. When Chase was drilling into Gwen's skull, yeah, it had been his job, but...

Chase and Jack had two entirely different professions before the island.

[misanthrope_md]

"Well, I'd like to think I can take at least a little credit for Chase's training. He's an intensivist by specialty, not a surgeon - but in my department I preferred we do most of the work ourselves, from labs to surgery, whatever.¹ It's not the usual course of things, but... having broad skills has certainly come in handy here, hmm? If I only knew how to work in infectious disease and nephrology I wouldn't be much use."

¹WTF, House canon. WTF.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Good thing for everyone you know more than just those," he said, nuzzling his nose into Greg's hair. "You amaze me."

[misanthrope_md]

"Well I had to do something to make up for being a complete jackass, right?" House pointed out.

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"If you say so," he laughed, thumbs working against the joint, especially on the right. "You know, I had fun making that...I think I might try to make some other stuff. Stu has good tools."

[misanthrope_md]

"Well, I'd say you could sell things if there were, you know, an economy," House said with a snort. "But then again, you actually like doing nice things for people."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"I like doing nice things for some people," Jack chuckled, letting his hands slip from the shoulders and around Greg's chest.

[misanthrope_md]

House put the watch back in his pocket. "I figure after the disaster last week I've built up enough good karma that I can go around being a complete asshole for a while without anyone being able to call me on it."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"You just don't want another write up in the paper," Jack teased.

[misanthrope_md]

"What, you don't think there'd be something about me being a good doctor. That wouldn't be sensationalist at all."

[captainjack.livejournal.com]

"Stick with me. You'll have plenty of scandal," he teased, pulling Greg back onto the bed to lay down.