Breaking Bad Fic: The Ritual

[readishmael]

Fandom: Breaking Bad
Title: The Ritual
Author:readishmael
Pairing: Walt/Jesse (established)
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: ~2,800
Spoilers: Vaguely through the end of season three.
Disclaimer: This is for fun, not for profit. No copyright infringement is intended. Breaking Bad belongs to Vince Gilligan, AMC, and Sony Television.
Warnings: Serious emotional abuse; physical

Comments

[warpedsexuality]

This may be one of your more disturbing stories, and at the same time, it's one that I feel compelled to keep re-reading. Which is sort of eerily reminiscent of the way Jesse keeps repeating this pattern with Walt. I hardly know where to begin the accolades; I want to mention the title, which is of course perfect.

I think what makes this story stand out among the many, many fics I've read with similar premises is that you as a writer seem more profoundly conscious of just how disturbing the relationship between the two protagonists really is. First of all, you get the warnings right. (Thank you! I mean that.) But it's more than that; your awareness of how problematic the described ritual is pervades the storytelling and makes it totally riveting. It also works really well that you are telling the story from Jesse's POV.

This:
"Jesse's heart lurched, thinking Mr. White wanted something more from him, something different from how this usually went, and he strained to think of what it might be"
is just so telling of the way someone in an abusive relationship will always be trying to anticipate the abuser's wishes. Oh my. It's really believable to me that the canon dynamic could turn into this.

[readishmael]

This one disturbs me, too. But I intended it to be really honest and respectful of the experience of abuse, and I'm glad you thought I got there. I'm also glad you thought it was a believable extension of the canon relationship; since it was an established relationship fic, I was a little uncertain about that.

The title was really the only one I even considered. That's what this is; that's how this works in a lot of cases.