i love thutner. which is a very silly sounding name for kutner and thirteen but idc I'm using it. I love their dynamic. they mean soooo much to me <3
I really like how they just seemed to get along so well from the beginning. they're just friends :} they like each other!!! even when they're in a competition for the job, they get on well!!!
credit for gif
2. I love how in 4x08, when kutner takes the case of the magician on his own, thirteen just goes to help him with the patient. she doesn't have to, but she does!!! also I like how they both get excited over that magic trick!!!!
3. there are multiple instances of them sharing looks and jokes, like in joy to the world. i just think that's so cute... they're the gigglers.... also this moment in guardian angels I think where kutner looks over to thirteen to see her reaction when taub and house were bantering (gif credit)
4. they care so deeply about one another. as soon as he finds out that thirteen has huntington's, he goes to ask her if she's okay. kutner also stands up to house in the greater good because he cares about thirteen, he just wants to know if she's okay. thirteen obvs cares about kutner as well.
5. thirteen finds kutner so endearing. in simple explanation when they enter kutner's apartment, but before well... you know, thirteen seems to endeared by kutner's apartment and how much it feels like kutner, and I just love that. also how endeared by him she's in whatever it takes in that scene (gif credit)
remy “ thirteen ” hadley & lawrence kutner • 4x02: THE RIGHT STUFF | 5x19: LOCKED IN
i don't know if anyone has ever pointed this parallel out before but one of the many reasons why i love thirteen and kutner is because they both share a sense of selflessness.
in 4x02, when cuddy found out that house was treating a high-profile patient (greta cooper, an air force pilot), she wanted him to have all of the tests done to be charted.
when house, cole, and thirteen were doing shots of tequila to stress the patient's liver (this being kutner's idea, we love him for it), greta had trouble breathing moments later, even “ refused oxygen and intubation ” according to cole. to handle the situation (while simultaneously complying with the patient's request and cuddy's orders), greta was put on the treadmill so that, “ records will show that we gave her oxygen as a part of a routine cardio stress test. she gets to breathe, your boss gets her paperwork. ” thirteen never took the credit for coming up with that idea, never used it as a leverage to advance ahead of cole or to gain approval from house. what's admirable is that she didn't even think twice about telling him that it was a joint decision that she and cole had come up with.
now, i have read that most people think that kutner was an underdeveloped character. but for what little time that we had him on the show, there's still a noticeable character growth. one of its many examples is how he allowed taub to take the credit in 5x19. there were many moments (in season 4, in particular) wherein kutner was noticeably enthusiastic, competitive even, about wanting to please house. but when house talked to him and taub in the locker room, asking them as to whom the “ rat pee ” idea belonged to, kutner didn't take the credit for it even when he was in the right to do so.
one thing about these two is that they care for the people around them, even when they get nothing out of it in return.
“This is it. This is how we die,” he paces, fidgeting with his hands. He does that a lot.
“We’re not dying,” she says flatly, staring into the distance. “It’s an elevator, not a guillotine.”
“Claustrophobic spaces kill thousands every year!”
“They don’t.”
He stops. Squints. “Really?”
“Really.”
They pause.
He exhales dramatically. “Fine, but if I do die, you’re not telling House. I don’t want him making a joke about me haunting the second floor or something.”
She actually laughs at that: a quick, breathy sound. But it counts. At least it does for Kutner.
He raises his eyebrows, not expecting the reaction she just had to what he’d said.
After a brief pause, he mumbles, “You like me,” looking at her with a big grin on his face, feeling oddly proud.
“I never said that,” Thirteen shrugs, the faint grin on her face betraying her statement.
“Your laugh said it.”
She playfully rolls her eyes, breaking eye contact.
When the elevator starts moving again, she doesn’t step away from him right away.
He’s funny.
III. DISCOVERY
Kutner catches her crying in the stairwell once.
Not sobbing. Just one sharp breath, quickly wiped away.
She holds her head down, not looking him in the eyes.
“... Allergies.”
He nods like he believes her. (He doesn’t, but he sits down anyway.)
“To what?” he asks. “Bullshit?”
She lets out a dry laugh.
He doesn’t press. Just sits with her, legs stretched out on the step below. He talks, about nothing — some bad sci-fi movie he watched last night, a few comics he bought the other day.
She listens, fidgeting with her hands. Doesn’t tell him to leave.
IV. EXPERIMENT
Kutner convinces her to help him with an “experiment.”
... Which turns out to be how many mentos can you fit in your mouth before drinking diet coke.
“This is science,” he stated, cramming in a fifth.
“This is idiotic,” she says, lips pursed as if trying to keep herself from smiling, while she films on his flip phone.
He gargles the soda and almost chokes. She tilts her head; laughs so hard she almost drops the phone.
Later, when house steals the video and emails it to the entire hospital staff, kutner swears revenge.
She shrugs. “You deserved it.”
“Hey, you laughed,” he counters, playfully nudging her.
She doesn’t deny it.
V. CLOSE
Kutner asks her out once. Not seriously. More like: “We should go to a movie sometime. Just as coworkers. Or non-coworkers. Or whatever.”
She looks at him, careful. “I don’t date coworkers.”
He nods. “Me neither. It’s just. It’s easier to ask you than Taub.”
That earns him an eye roll, but also a softer look. “You’re ridiculous.”
“Thanks, you’re pretty cool too.”
They never mention it again. But she starts sitting next to him in meetings after that.
VI. FRIENDSHIP
Months later, she still doesn’t delete his number.
Sometimes, late at night, she scrolls past it. Sometimes she almost calls. Just to hear his voice say something stupid and bright.
One night, she does.
She doesn’t say anything when the voicemail picks up.
She just listens to his old message. the one that says, “Hey, it’s Kutner. If this is Taub, I’m not loaning you money. If it’s anyone else, leave a message!”
She doesn’t leave one.
She hangs up, sits in the dark and feels her hands shake. Convinces herself that it’s because of her diagnosis and not because she’s about to cry.
He would’ve made a joke. An unfunny, yet somehow charming one. Something about… elevators. Or vending machines that eat your change. Maybe. (Probably not.)
Truthfully, she’s not quite sure what he would’ve said. He’d always been better at stuff like that, anyway. She just knows that he would’ve said something that would’ve made her laugh when she really needed to.
Maybe he was her friend after all.
Maybe she misses him more than she expected. More than she wants to.
thirteen x kutner means the world to me and its such a shame they were barely friends in the series, they had so much potential. but in my mind, this is their dynamic:
kutner is thirteen's angel. kutner is the one who helps thirteen with her diagnosis, kutner is the one that grounds thirteen. she lives in 'what ifs' and kutner is the one who gently brings her back to earth. his attitude about the world is so accepting that is makes thirteen rethink how she views her own life. kutner is blunt, he says what he means, he doesnt dance around it. he shows thirteen the beauty of the world in a way she cant deny. kutner lets thirteen exist.
thirteen is kutners phantom. thirteen offers him normalcy, she offers him a chance to feel normal. she respects him, sees him for who he is, she acknowledges him. she indulges in his interests and genuinely respects what he has to say. thirteen doesnt dismiss him. she says 'why not?' and encourages kutner to be confident in himself. thirteen lets kutner keep secrets and she lets him stay silent when he needs it. thirteen lets him exist.
