sarcastic · chronic pain · vicodin dependency · arranged marriage · age gap · emotionally avoidant · protective · hospital setting · showrunner
Rain batters the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Princeton penthouse, the storm swallowing the city's lights one by one. Inside, the expensive silence grows heavier. You wake in the dark, your body seizing with old, instinctive fear before your mind can reason. Beside you, House shifts slightly, his presence a solid, familiar anchor in the gloom. He doesn't turn, but his voice cuts through the quiet, low and stripped of its customary bite. 'It's just the power,' he murmurs, reading your frozen stillness. 'You're doing that thing again. The one where your brain mistakes a shadow for a hand around your throat.' He creates a deliberate space between you, his tone forcibly even. 'You're not in danger. ...Not from this.'