“Can I have hot chocolate in that French vanilla cappuccino?” The girl behind the counter gave Gordon a questioning look, before picking up the cup a little too obviously and walking out of sight, where he distinctly heard her mutter ‘House’. Or so he thought, anyway. This isn’t so bad. The others might have viewed this as a humiliating, menial task. But not him. He wasn’t really accustomed to working very hard anyway, and House probably knew that. Hell, House wasn’t known for his enthusiasm. At least here he was outside, away from paperwork and clinic hours. Suddenly the girl was back, and he awkwardly paid the total before quickly manoeuvring out of the busy shop.

The day had turned into an unusually nice one. The Sun was beating down hard, and people were out and about in their summer clothes soaking up the rays. Gordon gave thought to his own appearance, and envied the other people for not having to wear lab coats; his own, strangely, smelt strongly of antiseptic and old perfume. He’d noticed House hadn’t worn a lab coat either. Did that mean it was OK for him not to? Reasoning the Dean of Medicine probably made allowances for House, he decided it probably wasn’t OK. He didn’t even know why he had worn his outside. Peeling it off while balancing the coffee, he threw the white coat over his shoulder and began an enjoyable stroll back to the hospital.

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