Disclaimer: I don't own House M.D., or any of the House characters used in this fic. They all belong to David Shore: the genius behind the fantastic medical drama that has grabbed my attention. I only own any of my original characters that I choose to include, as well as any of my own original plot ideas.

Difficult

Prompt: Living with me isn't easy...

A/N: Prompt 1 written for 5_prompts on LiveJournal. Implied House/Cuddy.

At times, he was an angel, straight from her childhood dreams. Others, he was utterly incorrigible, far more than even Rachel on her worst days. Yet, she continued to put up with all his crap. For several weeks now, she had been questioned by numerous people, and the question had always been the same:

"Why House?"

Usually, she dismissed the question with a request, or an order, for the person to "go do your damn job while you still have it." Such a phrase was always met with a glower of disapproval before the offender stalked off down the halls of Princeton-Plainsboro. Strangely, it seemed that even House's team stared at her with incredulity brimming in their eyes as she walked past or delivered a case file to the man himself.

Wilson, it seemed, was the only one who could even figure it out. She had engaged him in several conversations in regards to House's inability to behave like a normal human being. Such discussions usually ended with Wilson saying something along the lines of: "House thrives on being difficult." Such a fact wasn't exactly surprising, and only Wilson would have the brains to make such a deduction, as he and House were very much like brothers. With House being the older, more obnoxious, pain in the ass of the two.

Today had started very much like every other. She had garnered strange looks from several members of the hospital staff as she had walked through the doors to the elevator where House, in all his glory, stood with that stupid smirk on his face.

He opened his mouth to, undoubtedly, comment on the shape of her ass, but she beat him to it, having slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Don't start with me," she warned, glaring at him as the elevator doors closed. "I'm not talking to you."

He grabbed her wrist, pushing her hand away with a grin. "I thought people kept their mouths shut when they weren't talking..."

She rolled her eyes, slapping his hand away from her rear. "Don't think that, just because we're dating, I won't slap you right here in front of the entire hospital," she huffed, speed-walking out of the elevator. The last thing she needed was another excuse for his absence that morning.

"You're playing that card?" he retorted, following her into the office. "After everything that happened last night?"

"I should be asking you that," she shot back, poking him with a finger. "You promised to watch Rachel today! But since it's so damn hard for you to keep a promise, I hired a sitter. So, mind telling me where the hell were you when I needed you an hour ago?"

House laughed, that coy smirk still in play. "Would it help if I said that I was at home in bed, dreaming of you?"

"Goodbye, House," she said, shoving several files into his chest with a smile of her own. "And, since you're here, you might as well make yourself useful. You have clinic duty."

"Well, that's hardly fair!" he muttered, banging his cane on the floor. "Just get Foreman to do it. He's much better with the useless patient drabble than I am."

She smirked, ushering him out the door. "As a very annoying man once said, 'No one said that living with me would be easy.'"

Voila! I've had the itch to write a House fic for a while.