deelaundry: person holding a cane and blue folder in the same hand (folder)
[personal profile] deelaundry
Posted to [livejournal.com profile] house_wilson and [livejournal.com profile] the_smut_couch

Title: Tension and Release
Authors: Dee Laundry and River ([livejournal.com profile] rivers_bend)
Pairing: House/Wilson
Rating: R
Words: 1890
Summary: House wonders what Wilson’s up to at the day spa
Notes: An experiment in co-writing. Parts you like are by River; parts you hate are by Dee. Thank you to [livejournal.com profile] daisylily for the beta.

House said it as a joke first. Just a throwaway line over breakfast, to tease Wilson about the increased frequency with which he was heading to the day spa. He’d long since given up teasing him about the fact of the manicures.

“You’re having an affair with your manicurist, aren’t you? Dipping your stick in her paraffin?”

“Bian is a beautiful girl, but no.” Wilson planted a lingering kiss on House’s lips to show that his interests lay elsewhere.

“Her name is Bian? Is her last name Say?”

“No. And her ass isn’t close to being in the same league as Miss Knowles’. Breasts are gorgeous, though.”

“Careful, Jimmy, you’ll make me jealous.”

“Breasts are overrated. Cocks on the other hand…” Wilson reached for the buttons on House’s jeans.

Blowjobs, House realized later, are a highly effective means of changing the subject.

Then, about a week after that throwaway line, House noticed that Wilson had stopped touching him. He’d kiss House and was as enthusiastic with his mouth as always. He’d let House kiss him, touch him. But he wouldn’t touch back; he kept his hands to himself.

“Not yet,” Wilson would say when House would call him on it. What the hell did that mean?

And every Monday and Thursday, he was off to the damn day spa.

It was getting irritating. House tried not to let it get to him, tried not to let it show, but it began running through his mind in a near constant refrain. Then one Friday, passing through the lobby, he’d caught the receptionist painting her nails and seen Wilson across the room in the same instant, and it came out before he could stop it. “You’re screwing your manicurist!”

Wilson flushed the correct flush and grimaced the correct grimace, putting on the act they’d agreed to maintain at work.

“I don’t have a manicurist! Go back to work!” he replied, stalking the correct indignant stalk to the elevator. House couldn’t tell what the real reaction was underneath, and that only added to his irritation. He snapped at the receptionist, who replied with her own murderous glare, and then took a few minutes to terrorize some nearby med students.

When he got back to his office, he’d cooled down only the tiniest fraction. He snatched up a journal, almost missing the yellow sticky in the middle of his desk.

“Be home at exactly 5:15,” it read. He snorted, crumpled the note, and tossed it toward his trash can.

Focusing on the journal, he saw Dykemann was on about neurotransmitters again. That was always good for a laugh. By the time he’d mentally ripped apart the article and all the research behind it, his mood had improved.


He checked his watch as he propped his bike on its stand. 5:13. Close enough.

He was thinking about the last stupid Clinic patient of the day when he walked in the front door, so it took him a minute to recognize the changes that had been made.

It looked almost as if he was in a Bedouin tent. There were sheets draped over the walls and fabric billowing across the ceiling. All the windows were covered, and soft lighting was coming up from the floor, filling the room with a muted but warm glow amongst the shadows.

He dropped his bag and shrugged off his jacket. It was hard to know what to think. Another step into the room and he noticed it. Draped across the back of the couch was a large, white fluffy robe. He ran a hand down the arm of the robe; it was chenille, with a velour cuff. A note on top read, “Clothes off. All of them. Put this on.”

He was not a slave to Wilson’s stickies. If he complied voluntarily, that left him a free man.

The robe was every bit as downy as it looked. The velour detailing grazed his wrists and hands; the hem swung at his knees. The plumate fabric tickled his ass when the robe was loose, so he pulled the belt tighter and was enveloped in the chenille. It was a robe worthy of the most luxurious and elite spa in Europe. House wondered how it had found its way into his living room.

Looking around, he noticed a note on the wall.

“Here,” it read, with an arrow pointing down. Underneath was a small dainty table that held just two things. The first was a filled plain white tea cup. Steam was rising off the top.

“Drink this,” read the note tucked under the edge of the saucer.

House did not drink tea. He drank coffee, which was bold, rugged, and effective. It got the job done without fuss. Tea, especially flavored tea such as he was now holding - from the aroma, it was peppermint and chamomile - was for women and effete Europeans. For people who had time to sit in spas.

He sat on the couch and slowly sipped until the cup was empty.

He then returned to the table, deposited the cup, and picked up the second item from the table: a new bottle of Vicodin. His current bottle, discarded with his jacket, held just a few lonely tablets. This one was completely full.

“Take this,” read the first line of the attached note. House had to smile at the second line: “(just one)”

He dry-swallowed the pill, all the tea being gone. Glancing to his right then, he found another note: “This way” with an arrow pointing down the hall.

On the bathroom door, another sticky: “Come in.”

The bathroom held a warm glow as well, from the rows of candles on the vanity and the toilet tank. The air held hints of vanilla and spices.

Above the tub: “Drop the robe and get in.” It was awkward, and he had to hold the grab bars, but he did it as quickly as he could. The bottom of the tub was covered with a thin air mattress that molded to his body. As he slid down to get comfortable, he appreciated both the velvety cover of the mattress and the warm, soothing water.

He turned and pulled over the headphones that had been left next to the tub. Another sticky: “Put these on.”

“Quite bossy little pieces of paper, aren’t you?” House murmured as he placed the large, soft ear pieces over his ears. One of his favorite pieces for piano was playing; it was gentle and soothing, but with true passion underneath.

After a few moments, he heard a warm familiar voice over the music. “Close your eyes.” He let his eyelids fall and focused on the tactile sensations of the water and the air and the mattress, and the hand that had just begun to slowly caress his hair.

Another hand nudged his shoulder gently and he leaned forward. A pillow was slipped behind his head and upper back, relieving the pressure the cold hard tile had exerted.

Then extraordinarily gentle fingertips were tracing his hairline. From his forehead they smoothed down both sides of his face, around his ears where the headphones rested, and around to the back of his neck. Softly, they traced back to their starting point and then an entire hand, skin smooth, was wiping across his brow. The fingers trailed off his skin slowly. He briefly felt the backs of the fingers caress his cheek and then the fingertips were back.

They began to map his face gently. Eyebrows, eyelashes, nose, cheeks, ears, down his jaw to his chin. They lingered for a moment on his lips, and he kissed them once before they moved on.

With firmer strokes, the fingers sought out the stress in his neck, small circular motions unlocking muscles. When they reached the curve where neck meets back, the hands flattened out, oiled palms slipping almost frictionless across his collarbones and shoulders. He briefly wondered where the oil had come from as the touch had seemed constant, but the hands moved down his chest, and he abandoned thought, surrendering to sensation.

A touch he identified as the broader pad of thumbs teased his nipples. Each fingertip in turn repeated the caress before they kneaded at the muscles underneath. Deft and sure, they knew intimately the pattern of pectoralis, the delineation of deltoid, and they pushed at the tension they found there until it melted away. Then their touch turned lighter, stroking along the skin in long sweeping ovals until an entirely different type of tension began to grow.

Hot, even in contrast to the warm water, the hands moved lower, spreading their heat over skin, through muscles and to his growing erection. Palms cupped his waist as fingers sketched ribs and vertebrae, as thumbs swam lazy circles over his hipbones. He wanted the fingers to follow the curve of his iliac crests inwards and downwards, but they tracked a light course over thighs and knees, shins and ankles until they found his feet.

The thumbs again, he recognized their strength, as the irritations of his day were wrested from their strongholds between his metatarsals. Drifting into the music, the heat and the scent, he began to feel weightless beyond the support that the water provided as the hands made their way back up his legs, alternately soothing the muscles and caressing the skin.

A hand laid flat on his stomach, the edge of a palm brushing gently at the base of his cock, grounded him. Tension that had nothing to do with stress focused under the weight. His limbs stayed relaxed but his hips curled slightly to meet the touch.

The hand that closed around him was soft with care and pampering, skin smooth in a way he hardly recognized. The strokes were at first feather-light and teasing, driving him insane for contact, for pressure. He was almost to the point of opening his eyes or his mouth to stop this madness, when the strokes blessedly changed, became firm and knowing. The hand on his stomach made forays south. Every brush and press of fingertips brought a cry to his throat until he was rigid with release.

He sighed; every cell felt relaxed.

After a few more gentle passes across his torso, the soft hands came to a rest on either side of his neck, thumbs stroking his jaw lazily, and the music died away.

He slowly opened his eyes and saw what he’d been picturing behind his eyelids: Wilson, his regard warm and searching, with the smile that House had learned was for him alone.

“Even Ingrid isn’t that good. Though I will admit, I might be biased by the extras you provide.” House smiled as he pulled Wilson’s right hand to his mouth and kissed the palm, then each of the fingers, enjoying again the smooth, soft skin. “Where did you learn how to do that?”

“Bian does more than manicures. Massage instruction on Mondays, skin treatments for the hands on Thursdays.” Wilson pulled the headphones off House and then stroked his hands down House’s neck and shoulders again.

“Well, Bian is a genius. Now I want your old hands back, though; the feel of these is just a little too girly.”

Wilson’s grip tightened as he leaned in for a kiss.

“Weren’t you paying attention? Just because they’re soft doesn’t mean they’re weak.”

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 03:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sideshow-meg.livejournal.com
Squee! Sorry, just lost the majority of my coherancy there. That's so well written, and so good. You've put a huge smile on my face :)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 05:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
Thanks! Sexiest bits were all River!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 06:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rivers-bend.livejournal.com
Thank you :)

Smiles make me happy

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 03:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] icegirl99.livejournal.com
Wow that was really good! I loved it.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 05:45 pm (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 06:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rivers-bend.livejournal.com
Thank you. and OMG ICON LOVE!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 11:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] icegirl99.livejournal.com
Thanks! It's the best icon ever.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 03:43 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] savemoony.livejournal.com
*Dies!* Oh, I adored this. I'm such a Spa-Whore, so I was laughing the whole time imagining Wilson at a spa. It's just too damn easy. The post-its? Lovely. And I loved the catch, I figured it was that much. However, this line takes the prize:

“You’re screwing your manicurist!” HAAA!!!! Oh, So Fucking Awesome.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 05:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
It is pretty easy to see Wilson at a spa, isn't it? Thanks!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 06:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rivers-bend.livejournal.com
*points to savemoony's favourite line*

See? all the best bits aren't mine!!! :D

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 04:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] genagirl.livejournal.com
That was way sexy!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 05:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
All River's doing! Isn't she a genius with hands? Thanks!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 06:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rivers-bend.livejournal.com
Thank you :) It's the hands. I tell you, they are teh sex.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 05:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rasetsunyo.livejournal.com
Guh so hot. And very sweet. Much love. =D

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 05:46 pm (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 07:11 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] purridot.livejournal.com
Mmmm... I feel nice and relaxed too! (But not as much as House, obviously ;-) What a lovely treat.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 08:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rivers-bend.livejournal.com
relaxed is good :)

Where do all your Nancy illustrations come from by the way? *loves your icons so much*

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 07:13 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] purridot.livejournal.com
Hee! I've been visiting this page:

http://www.nancydrewsleuth.com/library.html

Still looking for the perfect shade of titian hair in real life, though... It's harder to find than one would think!

*loves your stories so much*

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 07:24 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rivers-bend.livejournal.com
OMG *zooms to Nancy Drew page*

Thank you :D

and I am glad that you love my stories :)

I would totally believe that the perfect shade is hard to find. It's the kind of thing that you probably need to get a custom shade done by a colourist. At enormous expense... *sigh*

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 01:51 am (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 10:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] drunken-kurage.livejournal.com
this was fun to read, though i ended up a puddle of goo at the end. i'm such a sap with a hand fetish. *melts*

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 01:51 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
The hands were all River. Isn't she a genius?

(no subject)

Date: 2006-08-31 11:15 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tourmaline1973.livejournal.com
Lovely and delicious :)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 01:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
Thank you! Cute icon!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 12:33 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] theredshadow.livejournal.com
Hee, I just learned what iliac and metatarsals is/are in Anatomy today. :D

Very nicely written. I needed this after my long day today. :D

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 01:52 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
Glad to provide a distraction! Thanks

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 01:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] leaper182.livejournal.com
*sits on a rolly chair and spins around in fast circles*

Wheeee!

Yummy, yummy fic. :D

*rubs tummy happily*

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 01:53 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
Whee! with you. Thanks!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 02:35 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] leaper182.livejournal.com
My favorite part was when House resolved that he wouldn't be a slave to Wilson's stickies, and then he turned around and rationalized following the instructions anyways.

Hee.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 02:29 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] skyblue-reverie.livejournal.com
Hee! This was so cute. Fave bits:

Blowjobs, House realized later, are a highly effective means of changing the subject.

Oh, Wilson, you're so sneaky!

And then this:

The strokes were at first feather-light and teasing, driving him insane for contact, for pressure. He was almost to the point of opening his eyes or his mouth to stop this madness, when the strokes blessedly changed, became firm and knowing.

OMG hot!!

Thanks for posting, you guys!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 11:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
Thanks! Wilson is rather sneaky, isn't he?

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 03:45 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] extrabitter.livejournal.com
I must be in a really bad mood, because the Wilson characterization threw me off. I blame my mood because in outright smut, it's very silly to quibble about details like whether Wilson would really go to a day spa for any reason.

So although I know my quibbles are completely irrational, they did take me out of the story. At the end, I was asking myself about the day spa and, like House, I wondered if it might be something more like a massate parlor. Completely forgot about the smut.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 11:09 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
I can see, if you don't buy Wilson going to a day spa, how that would throw the rest off for you. I was basing it off the "Wilson paints his toenails" revelation of All In (Wilson's capitulation was way too fast for it to be an idle threat from House), and actually thinking about a local place called The Grooming Lounge, which is a day spa designed for men. But anyway...

If you're a hand fan (guessing from the icon), then strip the beginning and end off and just read the massage part. River did such a beautiful job there; I'd hate for you to miss it. Thanks!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 04:04 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] daasgrrl.livejournal.com
I also loved the bossy Post-It notes. And the massage was lovely. Of course, the secret is all in the extras :)

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 11:11 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
The secret is always in the extras! : ) Thanks!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 06:14 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fauxpocky.livejournal.com
Ohhh, pretty. Jealousy + post-it cuteness + massage = love

Also, an excellent example of skillfully done co-writing. Not the slightest hint of jumping from one author to the other. Wonderful work, AND teh hot.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 02:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
Thanks especially for the comment on co-writing. I'd never done it before, but River made it easy. She's so great.

gouiewhgl;kdsh'fhvsal';khgl'

Date: 2006-09-01 09:39 am (UTC)
ext_25649: House sucking a lollipop while staring at Wilson (houselolly)
From: [identity profile] daisylily.livejournal.com
Oh, now that works perfectly...

A lolly for you both XD

Re: gouiewhgl;kdsh'fhvsal';khgl'

Date: 2006-09-01 02:19 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
Thanks! I do so love getting lollies.

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-01 06:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] fallen-arazil.livejournal.com
Hee!

I totally knew it was about the hands. I had an epiphany, and I said, 'OMG! Wilson's getting rid of his calluses!' but anyway ...

D'aww, Wilson being all sweet to House ... although really, I usually think Wilson is more deserving of this kind of treatment, for putting up with House ... <_<

House: Hey, he gets the delight of my presence! This is the least he can do!

Erhm right, I'm done channelign the charactes now. I loved, but that shouldn't come as news by this point. ^_^ Yay for collaboration! Hmm ... maybe I'll write a River/Dee author!fic ...

Joking! It was a joke! It was almost entirely a joke! <_<

~Djinn

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-02 04:22 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
Hee, hee. The first draft of this was all about the skin treatment; we added in the massage part later. So, too funny that you had the callus epiphany - you and I are so mind-melding it's freaky. XP

XOXO, Dee

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-05 07:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] layne67.livejournal.com
Brilliant. Totally. Love the stickies, adore the correct grimace, correct flush and correct indignant stalk And Bian-lastname-Say! LOL trust House to say things like that.

Well done, both of you!

(no subject)

Date: 2006-09-05 01:12 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deelaundry.livejournal.com
Thanks! It was fun to write...

(no subject)

Date: 2011-02-28 08:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] alemyrddin.livejournal.com
I don't know how I missed this, given how much I love to read about massage in fics.

This was sexy, lazy and loving in the best way. Great job.

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