[spotlight story] The Open Road

[zulu.livejournal.com]

Title: The Open Road
Author: pun
Pairing: House/Wilson
Rating: NC-17
Length: 25 000 words
Spoilers: Through season three.
Summary: Wilson goes along for the ride.
Excerpt:

"Fever and chills, vomiting and diarrhea, jaundice."

"Oh, come on? Are you kidding me? Malaria? Don't play, if you're not even going to try." House spits a cherry pit over the side of the car and pops another cherry into his mouth.

"I was throwing you a changeup," Wilson lies. The truth is they've been playing Name That Parasite for over an hour, and Wilson has already run through all his good ones without stumping House once. His Parasitology is downright rusty. "You didn't say which kind."

"Plasmodium falciparum. Duh." Wilson looks over to see another pit go shooting out of House's mouth toward the grain silo they're driving past. The cherry juice has stained House's lips unnaturally red, and he's pursing them in the pout that tells Wilson he isn't being entertaining enough. Wilson has to fight the urge to pull the car over and prove just how entertaining he can be. Discussion of rare parasites would surely lose some of its appeal once he has House's dick in his mouth. Then again, in an open convertible in broad daylight medical guessing games are somewhat less likely to get them arrested. Wilson shakes off the fantasy and looks back at the road.

"We could try having a normal conversation, you know. Like you could tell me where we're going and what this is all about." A glance out of the corner of his eye shows House wrinkling his nose.

"You know, if I'd wanted so much whining I could have brought Chase."

Wilson is about to make a wisecrack back, but he sees House's face transforming with a sudden unholy glee and follows his gaze to a billboard that's just come into view. Bright red letters announce "Jackson County Fair" above a large orange and yellow sun rising over a cartoonish green field.

Wilson can practically smell the manure already.

"Oh, no," he tells House. "Forget it. Put it right out of your mind. No way."

The Open Road is the consummate roadtrip fic. pun combines the best of the travelling tropes--sleeping together in tiny rundown motels, country fairs with carnies, and being trapped together for hours in the car--with a wonderful exploration of House and Wilson's characters at a crossroad in their relationship. The road itself is a character; pun does a marvelous job of evoking the changing setting. The disconnected mood of the story fits Wilson's POV perfectly, as he follows House's lead and tries to understand his motives. This works especially well during their intense first kiss and Wilson's subsequent confusion. The sex scenes are incredibly hot, but they don't discount the importance of the way House and Wilson's friendship is changing. In the end, The Open Road leads to a conclusion that feels flawlessly appropriate.

You can leave feedback for pun here.

First Artist: thedeadparrot

I feel like it has real mood, that dusk-ish moment when cars begin to turn on their headlights.



Leave feedback for thedeadparrot here.

Second Artist: leiascully

I tried to get some salient elements of the road trip in: the red Corvette, the cheap motels and diners, the span of middle America.



Leave feedback for leiascully here.

Third Artist: mem_vermelha

I love the intimacy of peeking in at House and Wilson through the window, and the post cards are great too.



Leave feedback for mem_vermelha here.