A/N: A lot of Huddy and Hameron shippers liked the third season because it had a lot of things they considered support for their ship. I decided to write a fic relating those events in a HouseXWilson way, for all the HouseXWilson shippers out there!
Episodes I'll be working with are (in order) Meaning, Informed Consent, Lines in the Sand, Insensitive, Top Secret, Act Your Age, and House Training.
Hope you enjoy. Also, I haven't abandoned my other fic, I just haven't had any inspiration for it, and know I won't until I write this. Sorry.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own House, M.D. or any of the wonderful characters or storylines therein. sigh sadly I just borrow them for my own amusement.
-AmayaSora
---- --- -- - ---- --- -- - ---- --- -- - ---- --- -- - ---- --- -- - ---- --- -- -
Dr. Wilson was walking down the hall, minding his own business, when he heard something that made him stop in his tracks. As someone who regularly joined in the nurses' gossip sessions, this was no small feat.
He eased himself partially behind a plant, leaned casually against the wall, and pretended to read the newspaper so he could listen without arousing suspicion. At first he thought he was hearing things, but as he listened to Cameron make her rather feeble excuses, he knew he had heard right: House had actually asked her on a date.
At first he was worried how House might take the rejection, but those fears dissolved when he heard House continue with his usual spiel criticizing Cameron for only loving "broken" men.
All the same, he found himself in a bit of an inexplicable bad mood for the rest of the day.
----------------------
Another morning a few days later, Wilson had agreed to accompany a patient and her family to church as a show of moral support for what they were going through as they tried to come to turns with a diagnosis of breast cancer.
When he entered he noticed that Cameron was sitting there, crying. Normally he would have attempted to cheer her up, but he was with a patient today. Nevertheless, he kept glancing back at her every few minutes to try to catch her eye and flash her a reassuring smile. He knew that House's team had lost Azra Powell, and that Cameron always took those things the hardest of all of them.
She still hadn't looked up once when, during one of his routine glances, he was astonished to see House enter the church and stand next to her. He was even more shocked when House put a hand on her shoulder –actually put a hand on her shoulder- and told her, "I'm proud of you."
He was startled by the remark, too; House hardly ever praised anyone, especially not his subordinates, and never Cameron. Until now…Wilson was starting to wonder about those two.
------------------------
Wilson was pacing in his office. Uncharacteristically, both his balcony door and his front one were locked. The knob wiggled briefly and then whoever was outside knocked on the door.
This was the sign Wilson was waiting for. He crossed to the door, unlocked it, and opened it to admit a confused Dr. Chase.
"You paged me?" he asked.
"Yes. Where's House, by the way?"
"He's in the patient's room, trying to get him to admit he ate the Jimson weed."
"Good," Wilson said. Chase looked even more confused, so he decided to get to the point. "I understand if you don't want to betray your boss, but-"
"We're talking about House, right? I could honestly care less what anyone knows about him, as long as it doesn't affect my job," Chase told the oncologist.
"Even better. Have you noticed him acting oddly around Cameron lately?"
"Why would you care?" Chase asked suspiciously.
"I- he can't take another heartbreak," Wilson said evenly. One good thing about hanging around with House was that you became a master liar. "When we were in the lab he was staring at Cameron the entire time. And he actually complimented her. He said her hair was pretty. At first I thought it was just to throw people off, but I've noticed he's been acting…differently around her."
"Well, yeah, I guess he was acting a bit different. He had Cameron sit next to him last time we were doing a differential."
"Really?"
"Yeah." Chase leaned forward in his chair. "You don't think it means anything, do you?" he asked, honestly concerned.
"I'm…not sure," Wilson answered honestly.
------------------------------------------------
This was not the case weeks later, however. He'd gone back to being his usual self around Cameron, which relieved Wilson more than he liked to admit. This meant he was in a good mood when he sat in the lunchroom talking to Cuddy.
"It's obvious that he took the CIPA patient only to study her," Wilson was explaining. "Take him off the case."
"I wish I could, especially if he continues to ruin my dates, but-"
"Wait. How did he ruin your date?"
"First I was in the coffee shop up the street, and he barges in -you know House- asking for my approval for the treatments right in front of my date, who he then insults. And that night he shows up at my house claiming that Bennett's phone was broken. But Bennett's phone was working fine; I'd just talked to him. And he scared my date off." Cuddy looked Wilson in the eyes intensely. "You know him best. Is he doing this to be a jerk or because he has feelings for me?"
So much for my good mood, he thought, and immediately began running through all the exchanges he'd witnessed between the two. However, Wilson advised his boss, "Don't worry too much about it," even though he would be worrying about it for the rest of the day.
---------------------------------------------
Locked in his office, Wilson tried to get himself to stop being angry at his boss for something that wasn't her fault. And especially something that may not even be true. His anger was totally unjustified.
Unless Cuddy was right, and House had indeed remembered the Marine because he'd once dated her. And that House cared about the guy kissing Cuddy because he liked her, which was unlikely… right?
And why was it his business if House and Cuddy had slept together? Why did he find himself caring so much? They were both adults, after all, and if they wanted to have sex they were at perfect liberty to.
He thumped his fist on the desk and ran the other hand through his hair. Why did he have to follow House out of the bathroom, why? All he'd done was give himself more to worry about and more sleepless nights.
----------------------------------------------
Days later, he was still having the same problems. First House had actually done something nice for a change and given him tickets to a play. He'd hoped House would go with him, but immediately felt silly thinking that was even a possibility once he'd suggested it. This was House he was talking about.
Rather than let the tickets go to waste, he took Cuddy with him instead. Part of him honestly wanted her company, but another part (that he hated himself for) did it out of some weird desire to get back at House for making him feel so confused. If House liked Cuddy, but Cuddy liked Wilson, perhaps the diagnostician would just give up and move on.
He thought for sure he could make that happen by lying and saying he had slept with her. House's shock and concern made Wilson feel cautiously optimistic. His optimism grew when he found flowers from Cuddy on his desk and an idea popped into his head.
He made a big deal of telling House that he thought they meant Cuddy liked him. Then, later that night, he made an even bigger show of pretending he liked Cuddy back. If this doesn't scare him off, nothing will, he thought.
Unfortunately for him, by the end of the day it did look as if nothing would scare him off. As he was walking across the balcony he heard Cuddy laugh, and looked up to find her talking to House. House didn't make people laugh, least of all Cuddy… unless he was flirting with her. But that was ridiculous.
"I got tickets to a play…" House said.
Well, this was House, who liked to do ridiculous things. Especially if they upset Wilson. And this really upset Wilson, although he tried hard not to show it.
----------------------------------------------
He was, quite literally, sitting and waiting for the patient to die. It wasn't his patient this time, but House's, which was why he sat on House's couch and not his own.
There was another reason, too, but it seemed pretty irrelevant now that a woman was dying. Irrelevant, definitely, but still weighing heavily on Wilson's mind. House had been adamant that he "break it off" with Cuddy (even though there wasn't really anything going on) and had even gone over his head and discussed some extremely personal things with Bonnie. Wilson had to know why. Was this just his usual tendency to mess with people (especially him), or… something else?
He cleared his throat importantly. He'd do this now, when House was too curious about the patient to leave before he got his autopsy. "House."
"Yes, Jimmy?" the diagnostician replied as one would to a small child who was annoying him.
"What's with you lately?"
"Can you form your questions into intelligible thoughts, please?"
"What's with you?" he repeated, now facing his friend. "Why have you been acting so… differently lately?"
"Yes, when I said 'intelligible thoughts' I meant vague, subjective descriptions."
"House, you're…you're infuriating sometimes! Why have you been talking to Bonnie, why have you been trying to get me to break up with Cuddy, why did you ask her to the play, why-"
"I told you why I did all those things."
"You told me what you wanted me to think was the reason. But I know better. There has to be something more to it."
"Hey, everybody lies is my mantra, not yours."
"And now you're avoiding! What, are you, like, embarrassed or something? Is that it? You're actually ashamed of being in love with Cuddy! Or is it Cameron?"
House gave his patented you're-such-an-idiot glare. "Why would I be in love with Cuddy? And, god, Cameron? Cameron? As if I didn't get enough of that caring crap working with her. And you, of course."
"So…all of this was really just to mess with people? There's no deeper meaning to it?"
House said nothing, just looked at his friend with mocking laughter in his eyes. "Who said there was no deeper meaning?"
"You just- so you're saying there is a reason behind it, other than you being an ass?"
House sighed, exasperated. This time his words matched his eyes as both asserted, "You really are an idiot." Wilson blinked in surprise; he thought he saw a flicker of a smile play across House's lips. But it passed (if it was even there at all) and his friend said, "Think, Wilson. What did all those instances you're referring to have in common?"
Wilson thought for a minute before House gave up on waiting. "You witnessed all of them. You were there. Did you think that was a coincidence? That you were cleverly prying into my life? No. You acted just like I knew you would." His voice held the pride he felt for this genius plan.
One beat, two beats of silence, and then Wilson jerked his head up in triumph. "It's me! You did all those things to make me jealous…because you're in love with me!"
For a horrifying second Wilson thought he'd made a mistake, and that wasn't the reason at all, until House broke into a real, full smile that actually reached his eyes. "Took you long enough!"
Wilson was momentarily at a loss for words. When he could finally speak, he began, "Wow, well, um, funny you should mention-"
"Don't. I've known for longer than you have."
"How?"
"Does it matter how?" he said, softly, and reached up to touch Wilson's cheek.
"No, I guess it doesn't," the oncologist whispered back as he surrendered to House's kiss.
---- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---- --- ---- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---
There you go. The inspiration for this fic came from the end of House Training, when it showed Wilson sleeping peacefully on the chair that House was in before the scene switched. Don't ask me how exactly that led to this, it just did.
Did the title make sense to you? It's one of the only ones I've came up with that I like. I was basing it on the fact that House's actions (matter) looked like they meant one thing but were actually carefully calculated to achieve another purpose (mind). Does that make any sense? You can tell me in a review, which make my day… week… year…