Title: The Thing About Lovers
Characters: Kutner/Thirteen, House
Prompt: Lovers
Rating: PG-13ish
Warnings/Spoilers: Through season 4
Summary: House ponders lovers who try and keep secrets, and why Kutner and Thirteen are better at it than Chase and Cameron ever were.
House noticed a lot. Mostly subtle things.
The trick to forgetting the big pictures was to focus on all the details.
"Kutner and Thirteen are sleeping together," he whispered to Wilson behind his coffee.
"How do you figure?" Wilson said, humoring another ridiculous hunch, but knowing he was probably right.
"They arent very obvious about it, not like Chase and Cameron were. But, there are things. She laughs more at what he says than what Foreman or Taub does."
"Maybe, just maybe, Kutner is funnier than Taub or Foreman," Wilson suggested.
"No. That can't be it," he muttered, leaning in. "Something is telling me that they are definitely sleeping together."
Wilson said something about meeting Amber for lunch and drifted off, House continued to watch his fellows interact.
They all departed from the cafeteria and House deemed it prudent to follow. He wanted to notice something that would confirm his suspicion.
That's the odd thing about lovers, no matter how subtle they think they're being, there's always the most miniscule detail that gives them away.
Today, it was a dropped file.
Normally, Thirteen always picked up the things she dropped, got defensive for a few moments and then regained composure.
House watched this subtle scene of affection at a distance. The file slipped from her grip, and Kutner reflexively went down and grabbed it. Instead of snatching or snapping (as House had declared typical for her) she took it with a smile and they continued walking.
No one else would've thought this unusual at all.
But to House, it was definitive proof. More than a pulled muscle or a late night.
They were much better at hiding it than Chase and Cameron had been. They didn't interrupt their work schedules for nookie, they didn't shower together in the morning or make it obvious they had been together the night before. No one suspected them, so they didn't have to go to great lengths to deny it.
They were perfect, in that screwed up we're-just-friends-who-fuck way.
There was nothing other than friendship tinged with lust. There were no romantic feelings, as far as he had observed. Kutner wasn't going to become Chase, pining with unrequited love and begging until he got what he wanted.
The odd thing about lovers was sometimes they weren't meant to get caught.
He decided not to out them. They weren't causing problems, they still offered separate diagnoses during differentials, instead of agreeing with each other solely because they spent their nights together.
Kutner and Thirteen left in separate cars to get to the same location that night after work.