House was once again in his least favorite spot in the entirety of Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital: the clinic. He knew he had to let the team start with their missions and wait for their reports. He also had made sure that each of the tasks were timed and placed in the right places so that he could check on each of his lackies on his way to his office after clinic duty. He had weighed the pros and cons of spending the time doing clinic duty, and there was one major pro and one major con that outweighed the others:

Pro - Cuddy would be easier on him for the big finale experiment, which would include a huge public display.

Con - Cuddy would be suspicious of his ulterior motives if another case didn't come up, and only the universe could bring in another case.

Today, his first few patients merely needed some prescription refills. This woman - clearly late 30s and trying to hide it, having an affair with a younger man - was complaining of pain in her arm. It seemed the new positions she was trying was taking a toll.

"My arm hurts, and pain medication isn't working."

"Well maybe you should lay off on the whipping of your sub for a while. Do something else like lock them in a cage." House quipped.

"How do you know about that!?"

House just stared at her for a moment. He was just joking about the dominatrix thing, he didn't expect to be right.

"You're... actually whipping a sub?"

The woman looked at the window behind her, clearly concerned that someone was listening in. Who the heck would listen in on a possibly disgusting check up? Okay, now that he put it like that, maybe it would be fun to listen in.

"We have patient confidentiality, right? That HIPPA law thing?"

Doctor husband then. Interesting. House decided to play along so he acted surprised that she knew about HIPPA.

"Surprised you know the name of the law. Most know it as 'doctor-patient confidentiality'."

"My husband's a doctor. A pediatrician, actually." Her face dropped and she wrung her hands. "Things just… got so dull lately. He's been working long hours - longer than usual - and I have needs."

"Like any human being." House muttered. He hoped she would get to the point soon.

"I met this guy at a coffee shop, and we hit it off right away. First it was just one night, then two nights, now three days a week for the past two months. Two weeks ago… he asked me to try BDSM stuff. Said he wanted to feel controlled for once. Now every time before we get down to business, he has me whip him over and over, but I don't know if my arm can take much more of it."

She obviously hadn't had anyone to talk to about this, and her husband was avoiding her for a reason. He probably was having an affair too. In order to get rid of her quickly, House took out his Vicodin bottle and popped a pill, then handed one to the dominatrix adulterer.

"This should get rid of the pain. Great painkillers, not the over the counter stuff."

She looked apprehensive for a moment, but took the pill anyway. Blind faith in doctors was always dangerous, which proved that she was an idiot.

"The first thing I recommend is that you call your husband's practice to see if he's actually there during one of his long nights." House said as he got up. "Secondly, tell your boy-toy that if he wants BDSM to go to a professional dominatrix instead of depending on you. Take a week off of your… extracurricular activities. It'll help your arm feel better."

And with that, he left the exam room.

Wilson was at the nurse's station checking on his patient's charts. He had a feeling he'd have to go to House for a consult soon for an infection his chemo patient was fighting, but other than that she was progressing just fine. He hadn't expected Cameron to walk up to him though. She looked a bit nervous, so it probably had to do with House.

"Hey." She said.

"Hi."

There was an awkward pause, then Cameron asked,

"Are you and House dating?"

That came out of nowhere, and the oncologist knew he looked anxious. What the hell had brought that on?

"What?"

Cameron sighed and lowered her voice.

"There's a rumor going around that you and House started dating after you moved into his place."

"Really?"

"Yeah. And House isn't talking about it, so I figured I'd ask you."

There must have been something going on with House if Cameron was asking him about the rumor. Don't get him wrong, he knew people were speculating about it for years, but not enough to start a rumor around the hospital.

"I mean… is he acting different because of it?"

"Subtly, but yeah."

Wilson knew that if he asked about what House was doing, it'd be suspicious. Instead, he simply answered Cameron's question.

"Well, we're not dating. Simple as that."

"Kay... thanks."

Obviously feeling humiliated, Cameron walked back where she came around the corner and House was further down the hall so he was out of view, holding a $10 bill in his fingers. After the dominatrix adulterer, he decided to check on Cameron's progress. The young immunologist let out a huff as she reached her superior.

"Pupil dilation." She said as she grabbed for the money.

However, that wasn't the information House wanted, so he held the money back. Pupil dilation wasn't all the data.

"Anything else?" House asked with a raised eyebrow.

Cameron rolled her eyes.

"He... started blushing a bit, and acted anxious."

House smirked in response and handed her the money.

"Wasn't so hard, was it?"

She merely shook her head at him as she walked away. Chase and Foreman must have talked her into taking the deal, but she wasn't too happy about it. Pushing that aside, House made his way over to Wilson, who seemed to be a bit pink. He was also paying a bit too much attention to a patient's chart.

"What's got you so red?"

Wilson startled at the sudden appearance of House beside him. He must have been so focused on looking less flustered that he hadn't notice the diagnostician walk up. House probably knew something was up, but to save his dignity in front of the nursing staff, he decided to lie.

"Nothing important."

House merely nodded for effect.

"Either it's about a hot blonde in a short skirt... or you heard about that new rumor going around."

Wilson scoffed. Of course something like this wouldn't get past House, it never would. He'd either be told by one of his fellows about it, or he'd overhear one of the nurses talk about it. He'd just know no matter what.

"You heard about it too?" He asked as he started walking toward his office, and House followed.

"Well, when you find out your special friend is being talked about-."

"Okay, will you cut the 'special friend' crap, House?" Wilson said as he stopped in his tracks. "What happened a few days was just a fluke, alright? So drop it."

And so the oncologist walked as fast as he could to his office without House following. He knew that House figured out what happened in the bathroom, but he was not going to let the man use it against him.

Once Wilson was firmly out of view, House noticed that a few nurses and residents were whispering to each other. It seemed that he needed to come up with a new task for Foreman since that little outburst did all the work for them.

Unfortunately, the experiment (at least on the team's part) needed to be paused for a few days due to the teenage heart transplant case, but then there were a few days free. Operation 'Woo Wilson' could recommence. Apparently it didn't matter that they were on a case because that little talk they had in the hallway had spread like wildfire, and escalated in quality. Now the rumor was that they had slept together last week, which was definitely better.

Soon Wilson was heading back to the apartment after a long day at the hospital. He was just happy to relax since he had a surgery earlier that day that took ten hours. By the time he returned, House was on the couch watching a movie with a bowl of popcorn. Terminator 2, kind of odd, but Wilson was not about to question it. He shed his coat and shoes, put his suitcase down next to the coffee table, and took a seat next to his friend.

"How far in are you?" He asked.

House made an exaggerated sputtering sound at that question. How could Wilson not know that there was a major innuendo in that?

"Depends, hand or dick?" He remarked.

Wilson merely rolled his eyes because obviously his request to drop the whole incident was being ignored.

"You know what I mean."

"Just getting to the part where the T-1,000 chases the kid throughout town. Guy's got amazing stamina."

When will he fucking drop it!? Why couldn't Wilson just go one day without House making these goddamn jokes? Not to mention the rumors that were - wait… did House have something to do with those rumors? It could have been a coincidence, or it might have been another convoluted scheme to accomplish God knew what.

House knew that Wilson would be asking any second now about the rumors. He had a backup plan… and that was Chase. His task was to take the blame for starting the rumors therefore throwing off suspicion. However, now he had extra ammunition with the nurses overhearing their conversation in the hallway.

"House… did you have anything to do with those rumors?"

Obviously House would need to be convincing rather than snarky. Wilson could see snark as a subtle confirmation that he started the rumor (which was half true, but half the nurses' gossip).

"Nope." He answered simply. "I just think it's funny."

Wilson simply nodded in response and continued to watch the movie. He considered explaininh why Julie started having the affair. It was kind of ironic considering what was happening now, and there was obviously sexual tension between him and House, so maybe it would tip the diagnostician off about what he felt.

"You know… Julie thought that I was cheating on her when she kicked me out." He said.

"Exactly what I thought." House remarked.

"But she thought I was having an affair with one of my friends. Said that her friends had warned her not to date me because I was interested in someone else in particular."

"So she thought you were sleeping with another woman?"

"Actually, you."

That stopped House in his tracks. It was probably because they spent a lot of time together, it couldn't have been because she knew about their feelings… could it? Most of Wilson's exes were incredibly dull, especially Bonnie.

"Fair enough assumption." House commented as ate some popcorn. "Though she wouldn't be angry about it or believe it if her suspicions didn't have merit."

Wilson was sure that he flinched at that statement. He knew House wanted him to say it, but he didn't know if he could without feeling like an idiot. He shouldn't have felt like an idiot since the whole… masturbation thing happened last week, yet he couldn't make the embarrassment go away. He just needed to go with his gut, and his gut was telling him to say what he felt.

Fuck it, he would just say it.

"There's always been merit, House." The oncologist confessed. "I just never said anything."

"Same here."

The two looked at each other in silence. Each were just taking in the other's reaction, waiting for something to happen. Despite the action movie in the background, the emotion was just engulfing the room. The simple look on each of their faces spoke of deep longing, lasting decades and in between relationships. Having it finally out in the open… it felt good.

Finally, Wilson asked,

"So… what do we do about this?"

House didn't exactly know what to do. This wasn't a moment to just start referring to themselves as lovers or kiss. He may have been a selfish bastard, but he knew that this was new for both of them, so no decisions could be made now. Not to mention there was a grand finale he had planned for the experiment that was too good to throw away.

"Mull it over." House answered simply. "See how we feel about having it out in the open and figure out what to do from there."

Wilson thought that was very generous of House. In all the years he had known him, Wilson would've thought that they'd move onto kissing and cuddling, but this was… different. Instead of talking further, he merely nodded and they continued to watch the movie in silence. Eventually it got late, the two did their nightly routines, and went to sleep in their respective areas.