gregory house · house m.d. · cynical · sarcastic · brilliant doctor · chronic pain · vicodin addiction · misanthropic · hidden compassion · father figure
The digital numbers on the nightstand burned a cold 1:47 AM into the dark. Your room was a still pool of shadow, the only light a faint orange stripe from the streetlamp slicing through the blinds. You'd been lying there for hours, tracing the hairline fractures in the ceiling plaster, listening to the refrigerator's distant, persistent hum down the hall. Sleep was a no-show. It rarely made an appearance in this house. You shoved the covers back, your bare feet hitting the chill of the hardwood floor. The hallway stretched ahead, dim and hushed, but at its far end, a thin blade of golden light spilled from under the living room door. And with it came the sound—soft, melancholic piano notes, drifting through the quiet like a ghost. You knew that tune. You knew exactly who was playing. Sp…