Title: Paper Thin
Author: Itshouldrain
Rating: all ages so far
Pairing: House/Wilson
Spoilers: none as of yet
Summary: Their friendship is strong. They're inseparable. There's always something between them, marking the boundaries of friendship. As thin as rice paper, but it's there. Wilson always wondered what would happen if the paper was torn...

Paper Thin

1. Torn

Even though the earth still smelt damp from rain, even though the even trickling of droplets still hung outside the window, even though the park was still muddy, it was sunny. In the distance, a rainbow lingered, as if the rain was reluctant to erase all evidence of its presence.

There was something to be said of the sense of rebirth after a good, violent storm.

Sun poured through the window, flooding the clustered room with light. There was a red mug on the floor, still bouncing a little from the impact, creamy coffee coloured liquid pooling around the mug. It seemed to be a fairly sturdy piece of ceramic-ware, and only a sizable chip at the rim marked its dance with the floorboards. Aside from this domestic anomaly, everything else in the room seemed to be in order. A little messy perhaps, with books, journals, TV guides carelessly draped over the furniture, on the floor, but there seemed to be a certain harmony to the arrangement, one that invoked no desire to disturb it.

Two people stood on opposite sides of the room, one near where the mug lay, next to the window, and the other at the door. In fact, his right hand was draped over the handle, facilitating a speedy escape if such a plan required action.

"Aren't you going to say something? Anything?"

The man near the door stammers, his tone tinted with frustration. But it was mostly nervous, and his fingers tapped the metallic handle gently in anticipation.

The other man continued to gaze at anything other than the shorter, younger man in front of him. Though, he leans a little more on his cane at the question, as if to sigh. His free hand twitches a little, still in shock, and he makes a point of staring down at the broken mug in front of him.

"I was going to drink that."

He informs the mug matter-of-factly.

The younger man resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but gave out a breath he didn't realise he had been holding. At least he hadn't been thrown out, or beaten up, yet. Instead, he glares at the scruffy man by the window, hand moving away from the handle, giving a slightly exasperated wave.

"You did say anything ."

He added helpfully, blinking innocently.

"Huh."

Wilson shuffled his feet a little, his hand finding its way back to the handle.

House stood, doing an okay job of hiding his discomfort. The air was so condensed with awkwardness he was surprised there were no clouds forming.

"It's not everyday your best friend declares his love for you, so as you can imagine I'm a little surprised."

He drawled sarcastically. He could probably pass it off as some kind of platonic thing, and blame Wilson's outburst on his current vulnerable emotional state. But something in those brown eyes stopped him, and he cursed the oncologist inwardly, for breaking this…whatever it was between them.

Wilson contemplated this quietly for a few moments, finding his gaze drawn towards the floor. The back of his mind was mildly amused at how much he had managed to shock House, but mostly his mind considered the situation in front of him, and a very small part of him wanted to smack himself over the head for saying those three cursed words to his best friend. He didn't even have alcohol as a convenient scapegoat.

"So…"

He started, looking back up at House, only to be cut off by a sharp glare from the man.

"It's not going to work."

House stated flatly.

"Don't you think I know that House?"

Wilson almost yelled across the room, but instead it came out as a forced whisper, the delivery completed by frantic eyes.

The man in question raised his eyebrows at that.

"I just…thought you should…know."

He finished quietly, sounding slightly more pathetic than he had wanted, dropping his gaze again, and looked past his best friend, out towards the window. The rainbow had all but disappeared by this time, and the trickling decrescendo-ed into an occasional droplet falling from time to time. Wilson could not appreciate the sunny turn in weather for long, and returned an apprehensive gaze to his friend.

"Riiiiight. That's exactly why you told me."

House snorted, not bothering to cover up the disbelief in his voice.

"You wanted to get this off your chest. To have someone else handle the problem."

He accused suddenly, narrowing his eyes.

"What? I d-"

Whatever Wilson had to say was lost as the older man cut him off for the second time.

Wilson let out a long, slow breath, closing his eyes as he did so. When he opened them again, there was a newly found determination that had not been there before.

"Fine. I guess I'll just leave you to it then."

The door handle turned, and the oncologist, before leaving, shot one last pleading look at House, willing him to say something, i anything /i .

Two hands propped on the cane now, House simply smirked. Neither doing nor saying a thing. His eyes flashed betrayal, but it was gone before Wilson had enough time to process the expression.

The sound of a door slammed shut echoed angrily, filling the apartment with tension. Then there was one in the room.

End part one.

AN – I would call this a work in progress, so far the plan is for a 3-parter. And I've begun filling in parts 2 and 3. (Slowly, it's not going as smooth as this part did) However, I would really like input as to how you think how romance/sexual attraction would affect the House/Wilson friendship. (So far the plan is i not /i to have them end up as a couple, if only because I have no idea how to do that without making them too out-of-character, so really, any suggestion you have on this is great!)

-omake- (Because I had writer's block, and I like mocking my own writing...)
"It's not everyday your best friend declares his love for you, so as you can imagine I'm a little surprised."
He drawled sarcastically.

"House what? I just told you I'm sleeping with Cuddy!"
Wilson rolled his eyes.

"Not everything is about you House."
He murmured, moving to clean up the dropped mug.

"In your case it is."
The taller man straightened his posture, as if he had something important to declare.

"See, you're sleeping with Cuddy because you're jealous that she pays too, too much attention to me, which, in turn, makes me notice you less, because let's face it, who can compete with Cuddy's funbags? So by sleeping with her, you're really just trying to get me to notice you more."
House delivered with a perfectly neutral expression, scattered with some tints of 'realisation'.

"I'm on to you."
He smirked at the stunned oncologist, who was now doing a rather commendable impression of a goldfish.

"However,"
House moved closer to Wilson, placing a hand on his shoulder, making Wilson look up from where he was crouched, broken mug in hand.

"If you want me, all you had to do was say."
His voice was soft, and, leaning in, the older man tilts his head a little, so their noses won't crash together.

"House…what are you-"
Wilson protested weakly, but not making as much effort of it as he could.

"…"
Just as House leaned impossibly close, and Wilson thought their lips might touch, the older man's free hand reached out to tap Wilson on the nose.

"Gotcha!"
House stood back up, grinning.

end omake
please dun hit me (even though I probably deserved it for that one XD)