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The first time House and Wilson talked about revealing their more-than-friendly relationship to the diagnostics team, it was… kind of disastrous. It was the night they made it official to each other, in a haze after frenzied sex. Wilson had proposed the idea; House shot it down immediately. He’s not a guy to move so fastly.
“Nope,” he’d said popping the P-sound and chugged down two Vicodin. “You’re making my leg hurt just by bringing that up.”
Curled up next to House, Wilson had rolled his eyes. “That’s not how it works, by the way. But we can’t keep this a secret forever and you know that.”
“I know how my pain works,” House had replied sternly, but pulled Wilson closer anyway.
***
The second time wasn’t as bad as the first one. It was over morning coffee on some March Saturday, about three months after they’d started dating. In Wilson’s opinion, House had been crazy at work for those months; grabbing his ass and shouting very suggestive comments here and there, but everyone had dismissed them. Usual House and Wilson activities, they’d thought. Cameron was the only one to suspect something more might be going on, but the others had disagreed.
“House, you don’t think it’s time?”
“Time to do what, get married?”
“You know what I’m talking about. Cameron definitely already knows,” Wilson had tried, but House had just waved it off.
“Cameron always picks up everything first, she’s a girl,” he’d replied and munched on breakfast toast. Wilson didn’t know whether to be offended on Cameron’s behalf, but deduced that it might be true. “When Chase and Foreman see it, then we might be in trouble. But that’s lightyears away.”
Wilson couldn’t do anything but to silently agree with him. There’s no getting to House when he’s set on something, and Wilson, if anyone, knows it.
“I’m gonna go dry my hair,” he’d said, defeated, and stood up from his chair. House had made sure to whistle when he’d started walking away.
“Nice ass!”
***
The third time is in June.
“House, it’s been half a year. We have to tell them,” Wilson says seriously. They’re sitting on House’s couch, slumped together. House’s bum leg is on Wilson’s lap and House’s fingers somehow in Wilson’s hair. Wilson had never thought House to be a physical touch guy, but one learns something new every day. He massages the shitty leg on his lap softly.
“Oh, did I forget to say happy half-a-year-anniversary, darling?” House asks sarcastically. “What are you, a fifteen year old girl?”
“No, and you know that very well. I’m being serious.”
House sighs. His fingers stop in Wilson’s hair and he pulls his hands back. “I know you’re serious.”
“Then why won’t you act like it?”
“Because,” he says, dragging the au-sound, “I’m a selfish, weird asshole that you decided to date?”
A moment of silence ensues, during which Wilson examines House’s face very closely. He tries to find even a piece of something real, some honesty, behind all the layers of sarcasm and deflection. Then his eyes light up.
“You’re scared. You’re scared about how the team will react.”
House rolls his eyes, a bit caught off guard. “I’m not scared. I’m not fifteen either, you know.”
“Yes you are, House,” Wilson repeats, now almost joyously. “So you are a human after all.” Then he sees House about to say something and lifts his finger up in the air next to his face. “Nope. Not letting you make that joke, you know what I mean.”
House is about to protest but surprisingly enough, drops it. “So you don’t think saying ‘hey, by the way, I’m gay and dating my best friend’ isn’t scary?”
House actually admitting to it has a slightly haunting tone to it. House is never scared of anything. He sighs again, slumps a bit further down and puts his fingers back to Wilson’s hair. “Well, at least I’m not the one with twenty failed marriages,” he mumbles.
“Don’t bring my failed marriages into this,” Wilson says quite sharply, but relaxes as well. “Yes, it is scary, but I think your team will take it just fine. In fact, I doubt they even care much.”
House looks over to Wilson. “You don’t think they’d care? As if this isn’t like, the most juicy gossip ever.”
Wilson chuckles. “Hey, I thought we weren’t fifteen. We’re all adults, and just work together. They’ll be fine.” His hands find their way just a bit upper from the bum thigh muscle they were massaging. “Besides, don’t you wanna show me off?”
House can’t reply immediately, thinking about what ‘showing off’ Wilson might imply. “Show you off?”
“Show me off. I’m quite a catch, after all.”
House snorts, but lets the hands do whatever. “I’ve had you for years. It was just never official.”
Wilson eyes House and tilts his head. “Hey, I was married sometimes! You were the one who had to result to hookers.”
“Thank God I never have to do that again.”
***
Some thirty sweaty and loud minutes later they find themselves in the bedroom, both panting like maniacs, coming down a high from orgasming. A distant, hazy thought passes House’s mind; he likes this, and maybe they should do it often enough to make it a financially good idea to move together. He catches himself fantasizing about Wilson moving in, and quickly focuses on the real Wilson at hand.
“James,” he says. “I guess I have to swallow my pride and we have to do it.”
The usage of his first name startles Wilson slightly, but he rolls closer. “Well, Gregory, I have no idea whether you are referencing getting married, going for a second round or robbing the pharmacy for infinite Vicodin, but if it’d make you swallow your pride, I’m in.”
House rolls his eyes. His Jimmy is really out of it. “I meant going official at work, you asshole. Even though I wouldn’t shoot down the robbing thing.”
Wilson’s eyes shoot open when he hears those words. He takes a moment to digest them. “So all it really took to convince you was some good anal?”
“Of course not. Though I’m not complaining.” He clears his throat a little, and his left hand goes to trace little circles idly on Wilson’s skin. It’s still not something Wilson would’ve thought House to do, but he is not complaining either. “I have been thinking about it too, for a while.”
Wilson turns his face closer to House’s, and plants a little kiss on his lips. Brown eyes meet icy blues as they study each other.
“So how do you think we should do it?” Wilson asks.
“I think we should have ruthless relentless sex in my room and wait for everyone to walk by. It has glass walls, you know. See-through.”
Wilson did not expect to hear that and the faintest laugh comes through his lips. House swears he’s never heard anything nicer. “What if we settle for something… less shocking?”
House pouts but Wilson kisses it away. “Let’s do a compromise. We’ll gather everyone up and tell them, and when they don’t believe us, that’s when the sex comes in.”
“House, I’m not having sex at work,” Wilson sighs. “At home, that’s a different story. But never at work.”
House smirks. “Never say never.”
***
And that’s exactly what they do. Gather the team and Cuddy up on a Monday morning to the Diagnostics room, where Wilson is already pacing nervously around and House sitting down on a chair. It’s a particularly bad pain day for his leg, and he damns the powers of the universe for making it that way. He wanted today to be as minimally stressing for himself, but above all, for Wilson. His Jimmy.
For some reason, Wilson is more stressed out than he ever thought he’d be. He had thought about this day, many times, always with a pool of excitement in his stomach. But this time it’s something closer to pure fear.
“Why drag us out of bed at eight in the morning, House?” asks Chase. “We don’t even have a case going on right now.”
Wilson looks at them quickly. Chase, Cameron, Foreman and Cuddy, all more or less annoyedly or confusedly standing there. He opens his mouth but House is faster.
“Wilson, sit down.” He himself stands up and lets Wilson take over his seat, which he does gladly. “I’m not taking any shit today,” he warns the rest of them. The others understand it is about the leg when he limps almost pathetically over to the whiteboard.
“Okay team, follow what I’m doing very closely.”
He starts writing his name slowly but surely on the whiteboard with clear uppercase letters. Then, next to it, he writes Wilson’s name.
HOUSE WILSON
“What connects these two things?” he asks, as if he’s teaching a kindergarten class.
“You’re friends, both doctors, adult men…” Cameron starts to shoot off ideas, but House cuts her off.
“Nope,” he says and pops the P characteristically, “Not what I’m looking for today.”
“You’re both wrong in the head in a way that only you two understand?” suggests Foreman. House sends him a nasty glare. Foreman knows to take it lightly.
“House, we don’t have much time for this,” Cuddy says and shows them the actual case files she’s carrying on her hands. “There’s actual people needing help. And clinic duty. We should all be… doing our jobs right now.”
“Okay, team, I’ll tell you guys since you’ve asked so nicely,” House says cheerily and Wilson doesn’t even dare to look at what he’s doing.
“We’re still not fifteen,” he mumbles very quietly.
House, on the other hand, now draws a heart in between the two men’s names.
HOUSE <3 WILSON
A silence ensues. A silence during which Cameron doesn’t seem to be surprised at all (‘I knew it’, Wilson thinks), Cuddy seems still slightly annoyed at the fact that House and Wilson have been wasting their precious working time with these games, Foreman seems flabbergasted and Chase’s mouth won’t stay shut.
“We’re dating. Like me and Wilson. And having sex. Lots of it. Don’t forget that,” House explains, now with an-almost sadistic smile on his face. He enjoys seeing his coworkers going through all kinds of emotions after their reveal.
Wilson stands up and clears his throat. “Yes, this is true. This is not a weird joke House’s pulling. Unfortunately.” He’s embarrassed off his ass, but he also feels slightly relieved. At least it’s done now.
“Now, if you guys don’t mind, I think I am going to be in my office. Paper work calls,” he continues and slides smoothly past the team and Cuddy. Chase’s jaw is still on the floor.
“Hey, don’t leave me here!” House shouts at Wilson. Before completely leaving the room and limping away, he turns back to his team one last time.
“I’ll also be in Wilson’s office. Paper… work, you know.”