The Scenic Route by formerdinosaur/Hollycomb (R)

[sekrit-omg.livejournal.com]

Now that I've posted an overview, back to recs:

Fandom: SOUTH PARK
Pairing: Stan/Kyle; Cartman/Wendy; Kenny/Butters
Length: 115K
Author on LJ: formerdinosaur (SP writing journal for hollycomb)
Author Website: here on FF.net
Why this must be read: The Stan/Kyle first-time high school romance story has been written about a zillion times in the South Park fandom. Everyone's written one, basically. I have. This one's worth reading, all 100,000+ words of it, because it changes the formula by taking the boys out of high school and putting them on the road. Writing a road trip is hard, because the characters are stuck in a car, but Holly keeps the tension palpable by giving the trip a meaningful bookend: the boys are driving from South Park to LA to drop Stan off at college, where he's starting football training camp in the fall. When writing this first-time S/K story most authors create anxiety for Stan and Kyle by forcing them to wonder whether they'll end up at the same college. For Kyle in this story, the definitive end of the road trip represents a real goodbye, so instead of framing a gay romance around a mystery, there's only angst and tension. Like the characters, you might start to feel trapped in that car, dreading what happens on the other end.

Also, Holly writes some of the best porn ever. When you get to the porn -- and yes, there will be porn, a lot of it -- it feels totally justified.

The Scenic Route