Rec: "Chase and the P.L.O.T. Device" (House MD)
Title: Chase and the P.L.O.T. Device
Author: alex51324
Fandom: House MD
Pairing: House-Chase friendship, House/Wilson established
Spoilers: For "Finding Judas" and vague through mid-season 3
Rating: Teen (for language and sexual references)
Size: Novella
Genre(s): Hurt/comfort, humor, fluff
Warnings: House-style un-PC jokes and language; references to past child abuse and neglect
Summary: Before agreeing to an experimental medical treatment, House convinces Chase to play guinea pig.
Age-regression fics tend to be crap more often than not, but when done right, they can be some of the best hurt/comfort out there. One of the elements of getting it right is the ability to take an impossible, unrealistic premise and then -- as with all the best crack -- treat it seriously and realistically. How would the characters truly react if the impossible wasn't impossible?
Here, House is asked to participate in the clinical trials for a new nerve-regeneration technique that might eliminate his chronic pain. But House doesn't care about the pilot studies that have already been done, proving the technique is physically safe. Instead, he wants to see first-hand what the researchers haven't thought to ask about: the psychological effects of a second childhood on a subject whose first childhood sucked.
The result is a week of House and Wilson looking after a six-year-old Chase. There's plenty of humor and domestic fluff, and the banter rivals the show's. But the soft packing is wrapped around painful themes: Chase's wistful desire for a loving family and the emotional scars parental neglect has left him with, House's fears about the process and his desire to protect both mini-Chase and, by proxy, his own younger self, and even Wilson's desire for the kids he'll never have. The week becomes a chance for all three men to give and receive comfort in ways that wouldn't have been possible without the experiment.
The sequel, House and the P.L.O.T. Device, follows up on the same themes.
(Crossposted to trauma_rec_fic)
Author: alex51324
Fandom: House MD
Pairing: House-Chase friendship, House/Wilson established
Spoilers: For "Finding Judas" and vague through mid-season 3
Rating: Teen (for language and sexual references)
Size: Novella
Genre(s): Hurt/comfort, humor, fluff
Warnings: House-style un-PC jokes and language; references to past child abuse and neglect
Summary: Before agreeing to an experimental medical treatment, House convinces Chase to play guinea pig.
Age-regression fics tend to be crap more often than not, but when done right, they can be some of the best hurt/comfort out there. One of the elements of getting it right is the ability to take an impossible, unrealistic premise and then -- as with all the best crack -- treat it seriously and realistically. How would the characters truly react if the impossible wasn't impossible?
Here, House is asked to participate in the clinical trials for a new nerve-regeneration technique that might eliminate his chronic pain. But House doesn't care about the pilot studies that have already been done, proving the technique is physically safe. Instead, he wants to see first-hand what the researchers haven't thought to ask about: the psychological effects of a second childhood on a subject whose first childhood sucked.
The result is a week of House and Wilson looking after a six-year-old Chase. There's plenty of humor and domestic fluff, and the banter rivals the show's. But the soft packing is wrapped around painful themes: Chase's wistful desire for a loving family and the emotional scars parental neglect has left him with, House's fears about the process and his desire to protect both mini-Chase and, by proxy, his own younger self, and even Wilson's desire for the kids he'll never have. The week becomes a chance for all three men to give and receive comfort in ways that wouldn't have been possible without the experiment.
The sequel, House and the P.L.O.T. Device, follows up on the same themes.
(Crossposted to trauma_rec_fic)