Do you think the day after Hugh first saw Stephen (which I believe was on a stage at Cambridge) before he had Emma Thompson introduce them, he would have followed Stephen around campus, read the return addresses on his mail and bailed him out of jail? But Hugh Laurie is not Greg House… he just plays him on TV. Otherwise, on the show, even though most people wouldn’t do what House did when he first met Wilson, it totally fits the character of House to do so. I can see him being forced to go to something that he considers boring and deciding to either stir up trouble as a protest against being there or find the troublemaker because it would keep him interested. And of course, meeting the troublemaker, Wilson, would kick-start House’s obsession with solving the puzzle. I wanted to clarify my last paragraph. What I mean is, I believe you can have a sexual encounter with the same sex or opposite sex without it making you bi/homo/hetero, but if you do it more than once, then I'd classify that as being one of the three options (bi/homo/hetero). Or you can make it easy and just follow the Kinsey scale. Apparently House let his perspective new best friend know that he would be okay with a relationship that included sex. I guess most people would call this bi-sexual. See, this is House being House again – doing and saying things that people wouldn’t expect in a normal social situation. If you don’t stop and question something that is said by the man, then the intent of what he is doing/saying has not come across. IMHO House doesn’t care if he’s anywhere in or not in the GLBTQ categories, and IMHO it doesn’t matter to him. It doesn’t seem like what interests him – what does interest him is motives, psychology. Why did Wilson throw that bottle? Okay the sex drive is biological. sexual identification is social constructed. Are they though? For each published article out there on sexual identification there is at least one theory. There’s even one study that suggests that sexual identification is due to the mother’s immune response to the child while in the womb – the more older siblings the child has, the greater the immune response and GLBTQ tendencies increase by something like 10%. If you can find it, there’s an interesting one-hour documentary from the UK hosted by John Barrowman that goes into this called “The Making of Me” where they go into many of these theories from hand size to brain stimulation to birth order even.

Thanks for the replies! I guess I'm odd in that I think discussing or trying to understand what and how others see what you don't is actually interesting/fun. I never really thought there could be 'friendship at first sight.' For me its always been: I have to get to know someone, or just happen to spend a lot of time with them, THEN form that bond. I'm so weird that even my boyfriend right now, who is my best friend, my world.. well, when I met him in person I felt no connection at all, not even a friendship and actually avoided him for a month haha. But after talking to him online and getting to know him more, he has become my best friend and now I see him all the time (and we've been together for 4 years... even with the fact that I didn't like him at all when I first saw him) But its interesting that some people just see a person and feel that 'friendship connection' right away without getting to know them. I suppose that is what TPTB could be trying to show, and not a sexual attraction. And with the current discussion, I think the scene with O'Shea is pretty fascinating because I'm guessing most viewers, and what the show wanted the viewer to think, is that House is just being funny/sarcastic. But when you stop and think about it, if House said that same line to a woman, I think almost everyone would be assuming he is open to/wants to sleep with that woman. But since its a male he's said that to, it makes it a joke. Now, I can't decide what I think. I think its kind of obvious its supposed to be sarcasm, but then again, if he was saying that to Cuddy, I would probably take it as a reference that he wants to sleep with her, but "we don't have to" or whatever the line was with O'Shea. I do think it would be lovely, EVEN if it had nothing to do with Wilson, if it was revealed House has been with men when he was younger, and is bi, therefore all these sarcastic jokes were truly House being open about it. But everyone around him ignored the jokes since.. its House.. and people assume he's straight. I just think it would be a wonderful twist. But I can't predict what TPTB are getting at, and the fact that in interviews Hugh has said "They're not..." which I assume means gay or bi, does make me lose hope. (from the new tv guide interview, i don't remember the exact line) Last, I love the whole, unconventional idea, doesn't fit in a box and etcetc lines of thinking. But I do think if H/W happened, then I would label them bi.

First, let me just say that I saw the episode last night and loved it to bits. Lots of Wilson, lots of hoyay, and it looks like Wilson's coming back, not as weepy, grieving Wilson who is indifferent to House, but sharp-tongued, sassy Wilson who loves House. I wish we could have seen a flashback to how they first met. I imagine House getting intrigued by Wilson when he broke the mirror - most people would want to stay away from a potentially violent young doctor, but I can picture House finding Wilson's destructive anger appealing. Please! If Wilson were a woman, there'd be no question about House's attraction and interest. Did House want to get hot and sweaty when he laid eyes on Wilson? Who the hell knows. I got the feeling he just wanted to talk him, get to know him, spend time with him. Maybe it would lead to something more or maybe not. Hm, I don't know about that. Let's say Wilson was a woman and House a gay man. A gay man might bail out a woman he found intriguing for no reason other than he wanted to help someone he thought could be a friend. I'm just wildly speculating here. When I met my best friend (I'm a woman, he's a gay man) we clicked instantly. I think he would have bailed me out even after talking to me for thirty seconds. Maybe even before we met. He knew who I was before we met, because we both attended the same university and I stood out from the other freshmen because I was always wearing 40s style vintage clothing. And I think if someone said, "That girl who's always wearing hats and gloves is in jail, can you bail her out?" he would have done so, for no other reason than he thought I was intriguing. That is why we have been best friends for 16 years. However, I do think it was something more than a desire for platonic friendship that led House to bail Wilson out. I think it was love at first sight. I can accept that not everyone sees it that way (but then they shouldn't be hanging around the HoYay thread), but at minimum, it was friendship at first sight, which does happen sometimes. As far as the what makes a person straight/bi/gay, I just go by however the person describes themselves. I personally do not find such labels offensive, but many people do, so I just avoid them. If a guy wants to describe himself as 'straight' even though he has a longtime boyfriend, far be it from me to contradict him. Some people are offended by being described as a man or a woman because they do not believe there are only two genders. That's challenging for everyday speech, but I try to be accomodating. I mean, I don't care if people call me 'white' because I'm Caucasian but I always use the term 'African-American' because some people are offended by the term 'black' as a racial description. Same with 'handicapped' vs. 'disabled' and a zillion other adjectives that have been replaced. Even if it's a small minority who do not like the old terms, I'd rather play it safe and not offend anyone. It is challenging when there's no new term to substitute, such as for gender. I would hate to offend anyone by describing them as a 'man' or 'woman' but on the other hand, I think some people need to relax a little and not get so offended by what they perceive as 'labels.' I think of House and Wilson as bisexual because they both have loved women in the canon of the show. No doubt but that House loved Stacy and Wilson loved Amber. My personal fanwank is that House and Wilson have had sex off and on since they first met, but since that's not part of the canon (however so much it has been suggested), I can accept that other people interpret their relationship as just friendship. However, this is the Hoyay thread so I'm going to wallow in House/Wilson slash - 'chocolately goodness' as Doris Egan once described it.

The show doesn't give straight (no pun intended) answers to much more complicated questions, so why they will do it about House's sexuality? It's in the eye of the beholder: I see House's sarcastic remarks as a way to reveal or hide something about himself. The show doesn't need to put any label on them, it's my choice to interpret the ambiguities of what they say or do. I don't know if there's such thing like 'friendship at first sight' but what I saw in that story was an undeniable attraction between them. Was it sexual? I don't know, but for me it was remarkably similar to what is called 'love at the first sight', so I chose to see their attraction with an underlying sexual element too.

From Doris Egan - link in the media thread - talking about House's desire to delay the trip: (In fact, if you'd like to believe House tried other tricks when they were off-screen, I would encourage you.) See? She's encouraging me! I don't really need it, but it's nice to have her approval :P

Speaking of HoYay jokes, here's a quick one from "Son of a Coma Guy." HOUSE: Vegetative state. Much easier. This guy's no Terri Schiavo, his brain's all there, he moves around, muscles have barely atrophied, just waiting for a fairy-tale kiss. After I do that, stick a needle in him. :lol: House as Prince Charming! Hee hee hee.

Someone mentioned something interesting on house_wilson, so I'd thought we'd pick up the conversation here: During Spin, Wilson told Cameron, "Everything was fine. I met someone who... made me feel... funny. Good. And I didn't want to let that feeling go." Now that we know that House & Wilson didn't meet until after Wilson was served with divorce papers, can one still interpret that statement as being about House? Is Wilson really just talking about a woman (or man)? Could this quote perhaps refer to the feelings that House caused in Wilson once they met? Perhaps once they met, Wilson was ready to accept the end of his marriage? I, admittedly, never saw the quote way and didn't even think to interpret it as such until I got involved in fandom. However, I'm more than willing to accept the H/W explanation as a reasonable and accepted interpretation, just not my personal one.

I think it can still be interpreted that way. Even though they met in New Orleans, it was at a medical conference. So they likely spent only a few days together immediately after House bailed Wilson out of jail. It's unlikely that they lived in the same city or near each other at all. So perhaps they kept in touch after New Orleans and then Wilson got together with Bonnie. And then when House and Wilson wound up in the same city sometime later, Wilson was perhaps already losing interest in Bonnie and gaining interest in House... not wanting to let that feeling go.