FIC: Weights and Measures - Breaking Bad, Walt/Jesse

[squonkfan]

Title: Weights and Measures
Pairing: Walt/Jesse
Rating: NC-17
Word count: ~1000
Spoilers: 3x13 - "Full Measure"
Other formats: AO3 || Russian translation (translated by pointlessride)
Disclaimer: This is an amateur, not-for-profit work of fiction. No attempt has been made to copyright characters and/or concepts owned by the Breaking Bad people, nor

Comments

[squonkfan]

It leaves me thinking back to when he was in the hospital and clarifies to Walt that he's rejecting him, not the money, because ever since Walt came along everything's just gone wrong for him... and now it's even worse.

That's such a powerful, painful scene. I actually think most of that, though certainly it had been building for a while and certainly he's not wrong about his history with Walt, stems from that one moment where Jesse shows Walt the results of his own cook and Walt, out of his own selfish pride, throws it back in his face and tells him it's garbage. It's only one line in Jesse's speech I believe--something like, "You said my cook is shit"--but it's definitely the crux of it, and of course Walt recognizes it, too, and attempts to correct it (again, for what I think are tangled reasons). I find that whole thread so heart-wrenching: As much as he's also looking to hook up with Gus, in showing Walt the meth Jesse is also so clearly trying to show him that he's learned from him, wanting to recreate that moment/feeling in "Four Days Out" where Walt praises him for understanding the battery concept. Seeking his approval. For Walt to respond like that.... It's that same anguish of not being good enough that drove Jesse away from his parents and probably into drugs. That scene in the car makes me want to stab Walt's eyes out with a spork.

Still, it's not like Walt was taking all of that into account when he was driving over people.

HEE! Yeah. I agree that this was a moment of impulsive protectiveness and love that Walt just...acted on. There's so much potential for this whole thing to bring them closer in sort of a fucked-up way, and then proceed to rip them apart again. Not necessarily in that order. (I'm actually worried that they're going to decide that Jesse really didn't shoot Gale. That...needs to not happen. Even if I can theoretically see some interesting possibilities there, story-wise. But I don't think it's the right way to take it.)

I want to write some myself and I've just been bouncing ideas and such around in my head mostly. It's very daunting.

Oh, please do give it a try!! It's such a very, very long time until next summer....

[periariyx]

For Walt to respond like that.... It's that same anguish of not being good enough that drove Jesse away from his parents and probably into drugs.

Something that actually just clicked with me about that scene, is that Jesse is showing off that he actually learned from Walt, right when Walt is taking his "indefinite sabbatical" from teaching. All that time of Walt telling Jesse to apply himself, and now Jesse actually has. And it means nothing. Of course it's Walt's wounded pride, but just realizing the timing of the scene just now has added another layer to it that I can't even dissect yet. (This show is so good!) I definitely do agree with you, and the line - "You said my cook is shit" - when I hear it in Jesse's speech, it doesn't even sound like it fits in properly. Thematically it's about Walt ruining Jesse's life, but that really is so specific a thing to say amongst the rest of it all. Jesse was definitely hurt by that. He's so sure that Walt is going to be proud of him, and he actually respects Walt, probably the most he's ever respected any authority figure, and Walt is... a real bastard, yeah you're right haha.

I'm actually worried that they're going to decide that Jesse really didn't shoot Gale.

I'm pretty sure Gale is dead... Either way they go I just can't imagine how they're going to carry forward, just what happens next, but I'm pretty sure Gale is dead. Jesse's a complete mess even before killing him; he's relapsed and he's too tightly tied to Walt to let go now. Walt asks him to kill for him - to save him - and he does it. However Walt might treat Jesse, Jesse's just going to come crawling right back (at least on the flip side Walt can't ignore him, either, and that's his own choice) and he's going to do what he says. ... I think that when Vince Gilligan found out that some people interpreted his final shot differently, he was just fucking with people when he said he was considering other alternatives, haha.

It's funny, when ploughing through the series I was actually waiting for Jesse to kill someone at some point and see what his reaction to "being" the badass he wants to be would be, but the way it played out... It's so tragic. Every step he's taken he's tried to avoid actually killing people. This was quite possibly the most tragic way it could have gone for it to finally happen... Goddamnit, AMC! March! Not July! March!

Oh, please do give it a try!!

In that case, mightI friend you? :B Trying to break into the Breaking Bad fandom definitely... Totally doesn't hurt to get to know more people in it, haha. I really, really want to write for sure.

[squonkfan]

Something that actually just clicked with me about that scene, is that Jesse is showing off that he actually learned from Walt, right when Walt is taking his "indefinite sabbatical" from teaching.

Oh, interesting! And Walt has always been less than satisfied with teaching, certainly at the high school level. Once he gets a taste of the excitement of the criminal life, going back to that banality is eating him alive, much more so than the guilt of the plane crash. He doesn't want to teach anyone chemistry--he wants to be doing it; to be the center of it, the genius, the Big Cheese. He doesn't give a shit about having taught Jesse anything, especially because it seems to be in the service of Jesse's carrying on what Walt started and what Walt wants to keep doing. Shades of Elliot all over again. Walt sees himself as the guy who has all the brains and puts in all the work, only to watch everyone else climb to the top on his back. No wonder he gets so pissed at Jesse.

I'm pretty sure Gale is dead... I think that when Vince Gilligan found out that some people interpreted his final shot differently, he was just fucking with people when he said he was considering other alternatives, haha.

I hope you're right! But I could also see something interesting wherein Jesse tells Gale to run, paralleling "Half Measures." And then Jesse telling Walt that he did it and disposed of the body, and then we deal with that tension for a season. Gus would have to keep Walt around even without hard proof of Gale's death, as long as he couldn't find Gale. That would seem like a very BB way to go, too...but again, I don't really want to see it. I think it would be emotionally meatier to deal with the fallout from Gale's murder both in terms of Jesse's character and in terms of Jesse and Walt's relationship.

In that case, mightI friend you?

Of course!! :)

[periariyx]

But I could also see something interesting wherein Jesse tells Gale to run, paralleling "Half Measures." And then Jesse telling Walt that he did it and disposed of the body, and then we deal with that tension for a season. Gus would have to keep Walt around even without hard proof of Gale's death, as long as he couldn't find Gale.

But, see, if I were Gale, and that happened, the first thing I do is run straight to Gus, because he's the only person that I know that can protect me. I see that solution as being very short-sighted. Which is definitely within Jesse's character to do, so I guess actually killing Gale is just a reinforcement of the love he has for Walt. Which, as you said, killing Gale takes the Jesse/Walt relationship to a far more interesting place, since they've now killed for each other, tied to each other pretty much from hereon out, but how much is Jesse going to resent Walt for this? Ohh there's so much there. It's so messy and painful, I love it!

And added you right back. Awesome. :D