It was difficult to say how it had all started. How Wilson's screwed up, complicated, pain in the ass friendship with House had become the best thing in his life. The good times were sparse compared to the utterly terrible ones. But when they happened, Wilson was thoroughly reminded why he'd stuck by House's side for so long. And, there was that one peculiarity between them that even Wilson, king of needing to talk about everything, had never brought up. He did have a need to talk about things- broken things. Things that weren't right, that needed to be fixed. But this situation with House…there was nothing about it he wanted to change. Besides, if Wilson was going to nitpick he'd start with simpler topics. Like House "borrowing" his money, or stealing his food, or embarrassing him in front of patients. He wouldn't mind of those aspects of their friendship changed, but the unspoken moments they shared- however brief- were best left untampered.
It was after an impromptu road trip, 80 ounces of steak, a brush with death and a woman lost in the past, that Wilson found himself in one of those moments. Him and House sat on a bus at night headed back to the reality Wilson had desperately tried to leave behind. He'd felt no shame admitting the truth about the alias he'd taken for the day and the high school crush that should have been meaningless. He only felt defeated and pathetic. But then House had looked at him with a genuine smile and told him he could live without Kyle, and Wilson was reminded why he loved House. He always said the right thing, whether you wanted to hear it or not. And, good or bad, he always meant it. For the first time all day Wilson was able to put aside his fear of the CT scan that would soon tell him if he was going to live or die. He put it aside and focused only on the present. The world consisted solely of the bus, the dark road it drove, and House's smile. Wilson watched as House stood up, walked back and sat down next to him. They looked at each other, sharing the same thoughts, sadness and unspoken truth. They closed their eyes, leaned in slowly and kissed. This time perhaps a bit longer and more meaningfully than the other few moments sprinkled in the decades of their past. They broke the kiss after a few seconds and said nothing for the remainder of the ride. It was a comfortable silence, an understanding one. House pulled his hat over his eyes and began to doze off, resting his head against Wilson's shoulder. Wilson stared out the window, watching the streetlights flash by. They would be back at Princeton soon, back to his stark reality. But for right now everything was okay. Wilson shut his eyes, wishing he could make this moment go on forever.
(A/N): Found this in an old notebook and thought I'd share. I wrote it directly after the episode aired in some kind of emotional frenzy. The original title was "The Only Exception" LOL so I've definitely made some positive changes since 2012.