Ritual readers' guide
"An open-ended Petrellicest exercise in sheer depravity..."
All the Ritual stories in chronological order. Titles, links, and brief summaries (with ratings), plus a quick overview of this whole "Ritual" relationship - it's everything for the lightly confused, but still interested! Warning: Spoilers for all aired episodes and all published web comics. Now with story arcs delineated! Genre designations to come...
updated December 17 2009
"Ritual" is a series of stand-alone stories slashing brothers Nathan and Peter Petrelli. Their characters are largely based on show canon, but there's a whole lot of backstory that I made up which has been contradicted by subsequent episodes. With the advent of Season 3, this has been severely Jossed (i.e. I speculated on things I didn't know, which were later canonically established as something different), and now can only be considered as having been "inspired" by the show, but canonically incorrect in dozens of ways. As they say, "Oops."
Only the events described in stories I have written will be seen here. (There are a couple of serious breaches of internal continuity; I apologize. In the interests of living with my mistakes, these will not be corrected - see if you can spot them!) Events in italics are either part of the internal structure of a story largely set at another time, or are important milestones in their lives.
TIMELINE
1969: Nathan Petrelli born.
1980: Peter Petrelli born.
Ritual (26): Crooked (part one)
Rating: PG
1981, August: While Nathan's feeding him, Angela notices that Peter's lip seems to be paralyzed.
Ritual (40): A Mother Always Knows
Rating: R
1981, September: Nathan teaches Peter the word "love".
Ritual (27): Dixon
Rating: NC-17
1983, September: Nathan enters high school at the Warburton Military Academy for Boys outside of Hartford, Connecticut, and immediately has trouble with the cadet commander in charge of his dormitory wing, Kenyon Dixon.
1983, October: Dixon catches Nathan cheating on a test, and blackmails him into submitting to sexual advances.
1983, November: Dixon has intercourse with Nathan for the first time, beginning a pattern of sexual encounters which would continue regularly throughout the school year.
1983, Christmas: Nathan has sex with a girl for the first time.
1984, April: Through Nathan's patient machinations, Dixon's virulent racism is exposed, and he is expelled from the Academy. Nathan takes over Dixon's command role for the rest of the school year, in effect becoming the youngest cadet commander in the school's history.
1985, January: Peter sees his parents having sex. Ritual (50): The Primal Scene
1986, September: On the evening of Peter's first day of school, Angela makes him dinner, and Peter tells her that he loves Nathan best of all. Ritual (40): A Mother Always Knows
1986, October: Angela brings Peter to a series of neurologists, who confirm that Peter has a paralyzed nerve in his lower lip. Ritual (26, part 1)
Ritual (3): The Moment When Everything Happens
Rating: G
1987, late spring: Nathan returns home for a visit just before he graduates from high school and begins college, and finds little Peter distraught at the idea of further separation.
1987, late summer: Arthur takes Peter and Nathan on a hunting trip to the Berkshires. Peter is unable to kill a buck deer, so Nathan does it for him. Shortly afterward, Nathan is given the ability-creating serum. [webcomic "The Truth"]
1987, December: A lonely and stressed-out Peter begins sleepwalking, and badly injures himself. Nathan brings comic books and Peter's book of Greek myths to his hospital bedside. Ritual (26, part 1)
1991, November: Angela accidentally witnesses Peter having a wet dream - and calling out for Nathan. Ritual (40): A Mother Always Knows
1992, July: During a vacation while Nathan is in officer training, he and Peter go on a camping trip in the Adirondacks. Peter is profoundly depressed and anxious about Nathan being away, and finds it almost impossible to enjoy himself. Nathan reassures Peter that he is loved. That night, Peter sleeps in Nathan's arms, and Nathan is profoundly moved by Peter's beauty, sensitivity, and trust, and by his own overwhelming feelings of love and protectiveness. Ritual (17) The next morning, Nathan points out Peter's imperfections, and Peter takes it hard. By the end of the night, they are friends again. Ritual (26, part 1)
1993, October: Nathan, on active duty in Bosnia, asks his mother to send him a photograph of Peter. Ritual (40): A Mother Always Knows
Ritual (16): Scars
Rating: NC-17
1995, winter: A badly injured Nathan, suffering from PTSD-caused nightmares and fugues, returns to his parents' home, and Peter does what he can to help Nathan heal. In the process, both brothers come to startling and important revelations about each other and themselves.
Ritual (49): Biological
Rating: NC-17
1996, January 2: Nathan and Peter stay up most of the night talking and lounging in bed.
Ritual (55): Sometimes I Just Really Need You
Rating: NC-17
1996, January
In a weird mood, Peter visits Nathan before he goes to sleep, but he is still more or less only interested in one thing.
Ritual (47): Physical Therapy
Rating: R
1996, January: Peter joins the high school wrestling team. Nathan undergoes physical therapy. As Peter seems to move further away from him, certain sexual memories of Nathan's unconsciously drive him closer to Peter, and a good-natured shoulder massage comes to a messy, embarrasing, frustrating end.
1996, March: Nathan moves to his new apartment, and Peter tries to be cheerful, but fails, getting himself grounded, and tipping Angela off to the true depth of his and Nathan's bond. Ritual (40): A Mother Always Knows
1996, spring: At Nathan's new apartment, a little innocent horseplay on the couch unexpectedly arouses both Nathan and Peter. Ritual (7): Christmas at the Coopers'
The Fall Break Arc:
Ritual (21): Just a Kiss
Rating: R
1996, November 18: Peter and Nathan share a few kisses, and quite a lot of unspoken frustration.
Ritual (22): Hot Cinnamon
Rating: NC-17
1996, November 19: Peter surprises Nathan at work, then they go out to dinner. In the meantime, they have a hard time trying to keep their hands off each other, and infuriate each other every time they try to make things better.
Ritual (23): It's Beyond My Control
Rating: NC-17
1996, November 20-21: Peter tries to put some distance between him and Nathan. Instead, Nathan comes over with ice cream and Dangerous Liasons, and demonstrates his superior wrestling knowledge to Peter.
Ritual (24): Let's Play
Rating: NC-17
1996, November 22: Peter goes to a party at a posh friend's apartment, and has a really bad time. Nathan drives him home, and tucks him into bed, where they have their first serious "What's going on?" talk. In the morning, Nathan enjoys the fact that Peter tends to get naked in his sleep.
Ritual (43): Bound
Rating: NC-17
1996, December 10: Peter goes to Nathan's house for a swim, and asks Nathan to tie him up. To his surprise, Nathan consents.
Ritual (7): Christmas at the Coopers'
Rating: NC-17
1996, Christmas: At a party at the home of a friend of their father's, Peter and Nathan find privacy in a basement bathroom.
Ritual (46): A Ride
Rating: NC-17
1997, March: Nathan gives Peter a ride home after dinner with the parents. Once home, they get up to their usual mischief.
Ritual (51): A Dream at Pinehearst
Rating: NC-17
1997, December: The Petrelli family goes to the Berkshires for the Christmas holiday, and Peter has vivid, frustrating dreams about Nathan.
Ritual (59): Song for Junior
Rating: NC-17
1998, July: Peter asks Nathan for a handjob for his birthday. To his surprise, Nathan provides, and even seems to enjoy it himself - and yet is distant, cold, and dismissive afterward.
Ritual (14): Trouble Slut
Rating: NC-17
1998, September: Forlorn and lonely at the end of summer, Peter comes to Nathan's apartment to borrow a movie, but mostly they end up talking about sex (and then having it).
1999, April: Peter and Nathan spend a day together, including a trip to the Statue of Liberty on the Ellis Island Ferry. Peter takes photographs. Ritual (40)
1999, May 22: Peter graduates from high school, suffers an emotional blow and Angela learns that the family must spend the summer vacation away from the usual house in the Hamptons. Ritual (40)
The Vermont Arc:
Ritual (4): Vermont
Rating: NC-17
1999, May 28: Nathan and Peter arrive for a weekend in Vermont, setting up a summer house for their parents. That night, Peter confronts Nathan about their mutual desire, and Nathan admits to it. Then they act on it. A couple of times.
Ritual (36): It's Now or Never
Rating: NC-17
Same time period as "Vermont", but with different details: All the songs playing on the oldies station were just too perfect, and Nathan's resistance crumbles.
Ritual (37): Seconds
Rating: NC-17
Same night as "Vermont": Nathan can't help giving Peter what he wants.
Ritual (10): Ten Times
Rating: NC-17
1999, May 29: Peter and Nathan spend the second day at the house in Vermont unable to keep their hands off each other.
Ritual (28): One on Sunday
Rating: NC-17
1999, May 30: Nathan has a nightmare about losing Meredith (and their unborn child) in a fire, while Peter has a whimsical dream of being literally eaten alive by Nathan. In the morning, Nathan emotionally shuts down and tries to break things off with Peter. Peter will have none of it.
Ritual (42): The Right Thing
Rating: R
1999, June 1: Angela and Arthur arrive at the house in Vermont to find Peter depressed and Nathan dismissive, and both of them lying about what happened over the weekend.1999, Christmas Eve: Nathan has Peter stay the night at his apartment, and Peter confesses that he is in love with Nathan, and induces Nathan to admit the same. Ritual (17)
Ritual (53): A Smell Like New Houses
Rating: NC-17
2000, February: While the parents are out of town, Nathan brings Peter dinner, and a little something extra.
Ritual (54): Overlap
Rating: NC-17
2000, February: Later that same night, Nathan wants to act out a long-held fantasy, and Peter just wants Nathan to keep playing with him.
Ritual (38): Quiet
Rating: NC-17
2000, July 21: Peter's twentieth birthday party is a disappointment, but after it's over, Nathan gives Peter what he really wants.
Ritual (48): Shinnecock Hills
Rating: NC-17
2000, August: A college buddy of Nathan gifts him with a golfing weekend at the world-famous Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island, for Nathan, his parents, and Peter. The night before Nathan's birthday proper, Nathan and Peter head out for a little outdoors alone time near the golf course.
Ritual (9): Like A Tiger
Rating: NC-17
2000, September 10: Nathan and Peter pretend to be going to see The Sixth Sense, but instead hook up at Nathan's apartment.
Ritual (57): Peter O'Toole
Rating: NC-17
2000, September 11-13: Nathan and Peter attempt to see Lawrence of Arabia, but get drunk and distracted (and a hotel room) instead.
2000, September 14: In the midst of a hasty makeout session, Peter unwittingly makes a move that reminds Nathan too much of his abuse at the hands of Commander Dixon. Ritual (27): Dixon
Ritual (39): Both Sides Now
Rating: NC-17
2000, October 8-16: Nathan confesses a repressed, complex desire to Peter, and attempts to mediate the escalating animosity between Peter and Arthur. Peter struggles to find understanding of his father's choices in life, as well as trying to understand what Nathan is going through, when Nathan isn't particularly forthcoming with details.
Ritual (41): Masquerade
Rating: NC-17
2000, October 28: Nathan and Heidi attend a costume party together, and Heidi's cross-dressing costume highlights her resemblance to Peter. Nathan is so seized with lust that he forgets to take the necessary precautions until it's too late.
Ritual (5): What It's Really About
Rating: NC-17
2000, December 24: Nathan announces his engagement to Heidi. Peter gets violent. Later that night, Nathan returns to his parents' house and puts Peter in his place, but in the process, realizes just how strongly he is tied to Peter.
Ritual (19): Stag
Rating: NC-17
2001, January 21 (3-4 a.m.): After Nathan's stag party, he and Peter go to the family home, and reinforce their relationship. Naked honesty, reminiscence, and rough, drunken sex ensues.
2001, January 21 (noon): Nathan marries Heidi.
Ritual (15): Moving
Rating: NC-17
2001, May 11: Peter finally moves into his own place, with Nathan's assistance.
Ritual (6): A&T&FYSS
Rating: NC-17
2001, May 13-August 30: Peter and Nathan are growing apart - and Nathan gradually learns that he can't just ignore his desire for Peter. But Peter has gotten bored with Nathan's attitude toward their relationship, and engages in some self-sabotage to keep Nathan away. It takes a family emergency to bring them back together again.
Ritual (18): The Illusion
Rating: NC-17
2002, January 17-April 3: Peter is traumatized and clingy after 9/11. Nathan is first callous in response, but later makes it up to him.
Ritual (26): Crooked, part two
Rating: NC-17
2002, September 7: Nathan helps to rebuild Peter's self-esteem after Peter's just been dumped by a gold-digging girlfriend.
2003, March: By request, Nathan ties Peter up again. Ritual (43): Bound
Ritual (52): Unbound
Rating: NC-17
2003, March: Directly following the events of "Bound", Nathan and Peter snooze, shower, shave, order dinner in, make love, and misunderstand each other.
Ritual (44): Destiny and Desire
Rating: NC-17
2003, June: Nathan visits his parents, who are spending a fortnight as guests of Mr. Linderman at his estate in Connecticut. Over lunch, Arthur and Angela urge Nathan to run for Congress, and sooner rather than later. That night, Peter goes to a party in Brooklyn, gets hurt, and gets in trouble, and has to depend on Nathan to save him.
Ritual (20): The Milky Way
Rating: NC-17
2003, August 14: A power surge from an unknown source knocks out power throughout the northeastern US. Nathan is trapped in Manhattan, but he finds Peter, and they spend the night together, arguing, drinking beer, making love, and looking at the stars.
Ritual (45): Mutual
Rating: NC-17
2003, Thanksgiving Day: Nathan and Peter spend a day at play, and get very, very dirty in the process.
Ritual (33): Family Values
Rating: NC-17
2004, February 9-16: Nathan takes Peter with him on a trip to Aspen, in an attempt to display "family values" to a group of potential campaign investors, and Peter just tries to have a good time.
2004, July: Nathan and Peter get together for a sadly brief quickie at Peter's birthday party. Ritual (25)
2004, August: Nathan and Peter have plans to get together after Nathan's birthday brunch, but Nathan is called away at the last minute for a meeting. Ritual (25)
Ritual (25): The Game
Rating: NC-17
2004, November 23: Peter and Nathan go to a basketball game, then go back to Peter's to play a different kind of game.
Ritual (35): Left a Mark on My Soul
Rating: NC-17
Sometime in 2005, after Nathan announces his Congressional campaign bid: Peter makes love to Nathan's scars. (This may or may not have actually happened, but if it did, it would be at this time.)
2005, January: Nathan finds out that Kenyon Dixon was killed while on duty in Baghdad. Deeply troubled, he goes to Peter, and tells Peter about Dixon's twisted abuse, and how it twisted Nathan; but also how he prevailed. Ritual (27): Dixon
Ritual (50): The Primal Scene
Rating: NC-17
2005, March: Through hypnosis, Peter recalls the memory of watching his parents having sex, and appeals to Nathan to help him make sense of it in his own mind.
Ritual (1): Bring It Here
Rating: NC-17
2005, May 27: A nervous and tightly-wound Nathan calls Peter over to stay the night.
Ritual (2): Used
Rating: NC-17
2005, May 28: The next morning, Nathan returns Peter's favor from the night before, but in the process, uncovers uncomfortable parallels and memories from both his and Peter's childhoods.
2005, September: Arthur and Angela's 41st wedding anniversary. ["Villains"]
Ritual (13): Gratitude
Rating: NC-17
2005, Thanksgiving: A stressful holiday weekend with the family has Peter and Nathan at each other's throats. Unexpectedly, Heidi comes up with the solution to settling their quarrel.
2006, January 2: Nathan takes a long lunch break to go over to Peter's to answer a booty call. Ritual (49)
Ritual (8): The Pewter Monkey
Rating: NC-17
2006, June: [two weeks after the events in "Six Months Ago"] After the death of their father and the accident, Heidi is paralyzed in the hospital and Nathan is coming apart at the seams. Peter comes to Nathan's house to comfort Nathan, and in the process, and in order to relieve tension in Nathan's marriage, Peter takes back the object which has become Nathan's talisman.
Ritual (11): The Queen of Diamonds
Rating: R
2006, November 5: ["off-camera" during ".07%"] Angela tells Peter and Nathan that she's known about their relationship (and their powers) all along, but that it's time to end that part of their relationship forever.
Ritual (12): Not Without You
Rating: NC-17
2006, November 8: [immediately after "How To Stop An Exploding Man"] Peter loses control of his powers of radioactivity. In the interests of saving the city/"world", and also seeking escape from the web of lies and treachery his life has become, Nathan flies them both up out of harm's way. Through miraculous means, both survive and make it home - and remind themselves that they are still alive in the best way they know how. (non-canonical; basically AU; Jossed. Still a good story, though.)
The Adam Monroe Arc:
Ritual (30): Ganymede and Endymion
Rating: NC-17
2006, November 8-2007, March: [during "Four Months Ago..."] Peter is imprisoned in a Company testing facility. In the cell next to his, regenerator and "dangerous man" Adam Monroe strikes up a friendship with Peter that leads to shared intimacy.
Ritual (29): Truth Will Out
Rating: PG-13
2007, January 21: ["off-camera" during "Four Months Ago..."] Heidi visits a badly burned Nathan in the hospital, and asks him to tell her the truth about what happened. So Nathan does... about everything.
2007, February 12: Peter and Adam escape the Company facility, and consummate their relationship. Ritual (30)
Ritual (31): Montreal
Rating: NC-17
2007, Feburary 13: ["off-camera" during "Four Months Ago..."] Peter and Adam go to Nathan's hospital bedside, and Adam heals Nathan. Immediately afterward, they are intercepted by Elle and the Haitian, and the Haitian takes Peter's entire memory of himself. Nathan wakes, now healed, and vows to be reunited with Peter, no matter what. Ritual (32)
Ritual (17): I Don't Know Who I Am Without You
Rating: NC-17
2007, February: [during "Four Months Later"] Nathan sits in Peter's apartment alone and wallows in guilt and reminiscence of being in love with Peter. Peter, unconscious in the cargo container, has lost all his memories but those of being in love with Nathan. (slightly non-canonical; Jossed.)
Adam Arc continues:
2007, March: Peter wakes up in a shipping container in Cork, Ireland, and after a rough start, commits to beginning an entirely new life. ["Four Months Later"]
2007, March 17: ["off-camera" during "Truth & Consequences"] Peter goes to the warehouse in Montreal where his own precognitive painting led him, reunites with Adam, and regains his memories by thinking of Nathan. Exhausted, Peter lets Adam do whatever he wants. Ritual (31)
Ritual (34): On the Road
Rating: NC-17
2007, March 18-19: ["off-camera" during "Truth & Consequences"] Adam and Peter set out to find Victoria Pratt, and along the way, Peter babbles, Adam drinks, and they commit a couple of nefarious superpowered deeds.
Ritual (32): The Penitential Rite
Rating: NC-17
2007, March 20: ["off-camera" and "on-camera" during "Powerless"] Peter and Nathan reunite. Both of them are amazed at the change that's occured in the other, and Nathan demands an apology for Peter's broken promise.
Peter reminisces bitterly about his relationship with Nathan, and the inevitable betrayals while he is stranded on the ground in Haiti. Ritual (55); ["The Eclipse, Part One"]
Ritual (56): Because I Want To
2007, late May: After the death of Sylar, Peter goes home with Nathan, neither of them knowing that Nathan is now Sylar himself, merely occupying his shape and in somewhat imperfect possession of his memories. This new Nathan is eager to learn about and experience his relationship with Peter, and Peter relates to Nathan the way he always does.
Ritual (58): Possession
2007, late May: The next morning, Nathan is both very much himself, and very much not.
Ritual (60): Connection
2007, fall: Nathan, having escaped from the Sullivan Brothers carnival, goes to Peter's apartment in search of the comfort of what he knows and loves best. Peter needs the connection, too, even if he has no real idea or understanding about the true nature of the Nathan standing in front of him.
*=*=*
ON PETER AND NATHAN in RITUAL
Nathan and Peter have a loving, but consuming and obsessive relationship, full of strange patterns, codes, talismans, games, and roleplay. They are each other's exclusive outlet for the edges of their sexuality, thanks to their near-infinite trust in each other. They idolize, despise, and genuinely like each other; they are far more similar than either one thinks. The roles of the dominant and the submissive shift depending on their individual needs - Nathan usually takes an authoritative role in bed, but it is usually Peter who initiates the experiences, and who affects the most profound emotional breakthroughs.
Each time they acknowledge their mutual attraction, and the times that they act on it, reinforces their bond and also edges them further away from "ordinary" society. Their attraction to each other has a lot to do with their special abilities - Peter's ability in particular connects him to Nathan, but Nathan is also innately strongly attracted to others with abilities, whether he knows it (or it has manifested) or not. Years of repeated sexual contact and discussion have made them uniquely suited for each other - they have extraordinary knowledge about each other's bodies, preferences, and tendencies. Both carry on regular sexual activity with, and attraction to the opposite sex, but deliberately restrict male/male sexuality to each other. If not for each other, it should be assumed that they would satisfy their appetites for male/male sex with other people (in Nathan's case, most likely in secret, and with undoubtedly disastrous consequences). In this somewhat chauvanistic manner, they "keep each other out of trouble."
They hurt each other constantly, often deliberately, but they also love each other more than anything else in the world, and their times spent together are often blissful. Still, the bond is fragile... and now EVERYTHING is different...
"But in the end, all that matters is love." - Charles Deveaux
All the Ritual stories in chronological order. Titles, links, and brief summaries (with ratings), plus a quick overview of this whole "Ritual" relationship - it's everything for the lightly confused, but still interested! Warning: Spoilers for all aired episodes and all published web comics. Now with story arcs delineated! Genre designations to come...
updated December 17 2009
"Ritual" is a series of stand-alone stories slashing brothers Nathan and Peter Petrelli. Their characters are largely based on show canon, but there's a whole lot of backstory that I made up which has been contradicted by subsequent episodes. With the advent of Season 3, this has been severely Jossed (i.e. I speculated on things I didn't know, which were later canonically established as something different), and now can only be considered as having been "inspired" by the show, but canonically incorrect in dozens of ways. As they say, "Oops."
Only the events described in stories I have written will be seen here. (There are a couple of serious breaches of internal continuity; I apologize. In the interests of living with my mistakes, these will not be corrected - see if you can spot them!) Events in italics are either part of the internal structure of a story largely set at another time, or are important milestones in their lives.
TIMELINE
1969: Nathan Petrelli born.
1980: Peter Petrelli born.
Ritual (26): Crooked (part one)
Rating: PG
1981, August: While Nathan's feeding him, Angela notices that Peter's lip seems to be paralyzed.
Ritual (40): A Mother Always Knows
Rating: R
1981, September: Nathan teaches Peter the word "love".
Ritual (27): Dixon
Rating: NC-17
1983, September: Nathan enters high school at the Warburton Military Academy for Boys outside of Hartford, Connecticut, and immediately has trouble with the cadet commander in charge of his dormitory wing, Kenyon Dixon.
1983, October: Dixon catches Nathan cheating on a test, and blackmails him into submitting to sexual advances.
1983, November: Dixon has intercourse with Nathan for the first time, beginning a pattern of sexual encounters which would continue regularly throughout the school year.
1983, Christmas: Nathan has sex with a girl for the first time.
1984, April: Through Nathan's patient machinations, Dixon's virulent racism is exposed, and he is expelled from the Academy. Nathan takes over Dixon's command role for the rest of the school year, in effect becoming the youngest cadet commander in the school's history.
1985, January: Peter sees his parents having sex. Ritual (50): The Primal Scene
1986, September: On the evening of Peter's first day of school, Angela makes him dinner, and Peter tells her that he loves Nathan best of all. Ritual (40): A Mother Always Knows
1986, October: Angela brings Peter to a series of neurologists, who confirm that Peter has a paralyzed nerve in his lower lip. Ritual (26, part 1)
Ritual (3): The Moment When Everything Happens
Rating: G
1987, late spring: Nathan returns home for a visit just before he graduates from high school and begins college, and finds little Peter distraught at the idea of further separation.
1987, late summer: Arthur takes Peter and Nathan on a hunting trip to the Berkshires. Peter is unable to kill a buck deer, so Nathan does it for him. Shortly afterward, Nathan is given the ability-creating serum. [webcomic "The Truth"]
1987, December: A lonely and stressed-out Peter begins sleepwalking, and badly injures himself. Nathan brings comic books and Peter's book of Greek myths to his hospital bedside. Ritual (26, part 1)
1991, November: Angela accidentally witnesses Peter having a wet dream - and calling out for Nathan. Ritual (40): A Mother Always Knows
1992, July: During a vacation while Nathan is in officer training, he and Peter go on a camping trip in the Adirondacks. Peter is profoundly depressed and anxious about Nathan being away, and finds it almost impossible to enjoy himself. Nathan reassures Peter that he is loved. That night, Peter sleeps in Nathan's arms, and Nathan is profoundly moved by Peter's beauty, sensitivity, and trust, and by his own overwhelming feelings of love and protectiveness. Ritual (17) The next morning, Nathan points out Peter's imperfections, and Peter takes it hard. By the end of the night, they are friends again. Ritual (26, part 1)
1993, October: Nathan, on active duty in Bosnia, asks his mother to send him a photograph of Peter. Ritual (40): A Mother Always Knows
Ritual (16): Scars
Rating: NC-17
1995, winter: A badly injured Nathan, suffering from PTSD-caused nightmares and fugues, returns to his parents' home, and Peter does what he can to help Nathan heal. In the process, both brothers come to startling and important revelations about each other and themselves.
Ritual (49): Biological
Rating: NC-17
1996, January 2: Nathan and Peter stay up most of the night talking and lounging in bed.
Ritual (55): Sometimes I Just Really Need You
Rating: NC-17
1996, January
In a weird mood, Peter visits Nathan before he goes to sleep, but he is still more or less only interested in one thing.
Ritual (47): Physical Therapy
Rating: R
1996, January: Peter joins the high school wrestling team. Nathan undergoes physical therapy. As Peter seems to move further away from him, certain sexual memories of Nathan's unconsciously drive him closer to Peter, and a good-natured shoulder massage comes to a messy, embarrasing, frustrating end.
1996, March: Nathan moves to his new apartment, and Peter tries to be cheerful, but fails, getting himself grounded, and tipping Angela off to the true depth of his and Nathan's bond. Ritual (40): A Mother Always Knows
1996, spring: At Nathan's new apartment, a little innocent horseplay on the couch unexpectedly arouses both Nathan and Peter. Ritual (7): Christmas at the Coopers'
The Fall Break Arc:
Ritual (21): Just a Kiss
Rating: R
1996, November 18: Peter and Nathan share a few kisses, and quite a lot of unspoken frustration.
Ritual (22): Hot Cinnamon
Rating: NC-17
1996, November 19: Peter surprises Nathan at work, then they go out to dinner. In the meantime, they have a hard time trying to keep their hands off each other, and infuriate each other every time they try to make things better.
Ritual (23): It's Beyond My Control
Rating: NC-17
1996, November 20-21: Peter tries to put some distance between him and Nathan. Instead, Nathan comes over with ice cream and Dangerous Liasons, and demonstrates his superior wrestling knowledge to Peter.
Ritual (24): Let's Play
Rating: NC-17
1996, November 22: Peter goes to a party at a posh friend's apartment, and has a really bad time. Nathan drives him home, and tucks him into bed, where they have their first serious "What's going on?" talk. In the morning, Nathan enjoys the fact that Peter tends to get naked in his sleep.
Ritual (43): Bound
Rating: NC-17
1996, December 10: Peter goes to Nathan's house for a swim, and asks Nathan to tie him up. To his surprise, Nathan consents.
Ritual (7): Christmas at the Coopers'
Rating: NC-17
1996, Christmas: At a party at the home of a friend of their father's, Peter and Nathan find privacy in a basement bathroom.
Ritual (46): A Ride
Rating: NC-17
1997, March: Nathan gives Peter a ride home after dinner with the parents. Once home, they get up to their usual mischief.
Ritual (51): A Dream at Pinehearst
Rating: NC-17
1997, December: The Petrelli family goes to the Berkshires for the Christmas holiday, and Peter has vivid, frustrating dreams about Nathan.
Ritual (59): Song for Junior
Rating: NC-17
1998, July: Peter asks Nathan for a handjob for his birthday. To his surprise, Nathan provides, and even seems to enjoy it himself - and yet is distant, cold, and dismissive afterward.
Ritual (14): Trouble Slut
Rating: NC-17
1998, September: Forlorn and lonely at the end of summer, Peter comes to Nathan's apartment to borrow a movie, but mostly they end up talking about sex (and then having it).
1999, April: Peter and Nathan spend a day together, including a trip to the Statue of Liberty on the Ellis Island Ferry. Peter takes photographs. Ritual (40)
1999, May 22: Peter graduates from high school, suffers an emotional blow and Angela learns that the family must spend the summer vacation away from the usual house in the Hamptons. Ritual (40)
The Vermont Arc:
Ritual (4): Vermont
Rating: NC-17
1999, May 28: Nathan and Peter arrive for a weekend in Vermont, setting up a summer house for their parents. That night, Peter confronts Nathan about their mutual desire, and Nathan admits to it. Then they act on it. A couple of times.
Ritual (36): It's Now or Never
Rating: NC-17
Same time period as "Vermont", but with different details: All the songs playing on the oldies station were just too perfect, and Nathan's resistance crumbles.
Ritual (37): Seconds
Rating: NC-17
Same night as "Vermont": Nathan can't help giving Peter what he wants.
Ritual (10): Ten Times
Rating: NC-17
1999, May 29: Peter and Nathan spend the second day at the house in Vermont unable to keep their hands off each other.
Ritual (28): One on Sunday
Rating: NC-17
1999, May 30: Nathan has a nightmare about losing Meredith (and their unborn child) in a fire, while Peter has a whimsical dream of being literally eaten alive by Nathan. In the morning, Nathan emotionally shuts down and tries to break things off with Peter. Peter will have none of it.
Ritual (42): The Right Thing
Rating: R
1999, June 1: Angela and Arthur arrive at the house in Vermont to find Peter depressed and Nathan dismissive, and both of them lying about what happened over the weekend.1999, Christmas Eve: Nathan has Peter stay the night at his apartment, and Peter confesses that he is in love with Nathan, and induces Nathan to admit the same. Ritual (17)
Ritual (53): A Smell Like New Houses
Rating: NC-17
2000, February: While the parents are out of town, Nathan brings Peter dinner, and a little something extra.
Ritual (54): Overlap
Rating: NC-17
2000, February: Later that same night, Nathan wants to act out a long-held fantasy, and Peter just wants Nathan to keep playing with him.
Ritual (38): Quiet
Rating: NC-17
2000, July 21: Peter's twentieth birthday party is a disappointment, but after it's over, Nathan gives Peter what he really wants.
Ritual (48): Shinnecock Hills
Rating: NC-17
2000, August: A college buddy of Nathan gifts him with a golfing weekend at the world-famous Shinnecock Hills Golf Club on Long Island, for Nathan, his parents, and Peter. The night before Nathan's birthday proper, Nathan and Peter head out for a little outdoors alone time near the golf course.
Ritual (9): Like A Tiger
Rating: NC-17
2000, September 10: Nathan and Peter pretend to be going to see The Sixth Sense, but instead hook up at Nathan's apartment.
Ritual (57): Peter O'Toole
Rating: NC-17
2000, September 11-13: Nathan and Peter attempt to see Lawrence of Arabia, but get drunk and distracted (and a hotel room) instead.
2000, September 14: In the midst of a hasty makeout session, Peter unwittingly makes a move that reminds Nathan too much of his abuse at the hands of Commander Dixon. Ritual (27): Dixon
Ritual (39): Both Sides Now
Rating: NC-17
2000, October 8-16: Nathan confesses a repressed, complex desire to Peter, and attempts to mediate the escalating animosity between Peter and Arthur. Peter struggles to find understanding of his father's choices in life, as well as trying to understand what Nathan is going through, when Nathan isn't particularly forthcoming with details.
Ritual (41): Masquerade
Rating: NC-17
2000, October 28: Nathan and Heidi attend a costume party together, and Heidi's cross-dressing costume highlights her resemblance to Peter. Nathan is so seized with lust that he forgets to take the necessary precautions until it's too late.
Ritual (5): What It's Really About
Rating: NC-17
2000, December 24: Nathan announces his engagement to Heidi. Peter gets violent. Later that night, Nathan returns to his parents' house and puts Peter in his place, but in the process, realizes just how strongly he is tied to Peter.
Ritual (19): Stag
Rating: NC-17
2001, January 21 (3-4 a.m.): After Nathan's stag party, he and Peter go to the family home, and reinforce their relationship. Naked honesty, reminiscence, and rough, drunken sex ensues.
2001, January 21 (noon): Nathan marries Heidi.
Ritual (15): Moving
Rating: NC-17
2001, May 11: Peter finally moves into his own place, with Nathan's assistance.
Ritual (6): A&T&FYSS
Rating: NC-17
2001, May 13-August 30: Peter and Nathan are growing apart - and Nathan gradually learns that he can't just ignore his desire for Peter. But Peter has gotten bored with Nathan's attitude toward their relationship, and engages in some self-sabotage to keep Nathan away. It takes a family emergency to bring them back together again.
Ritual (18): The Illusion
Rating: NC-17
2002, January 17-April 3: Peter is traumatized and clingy after 9/11. Nathan is first callous in response, but later makes it up to him.
Ritual (26): Crooked, part two
Rating: NC-17
2002, September 7: Nathan helps to rebuild Peter's self-esteem after Peter's just been dumped by a gold-digging girlfriend.
2003, March: By request, Nathan ties Peter up again. Ritual (43): Bound
Ritual (52): Unbound
Rating: NC-17
2003, March: Directly following the events of "Bound", Nathan and Peter snooze, shower, shave, order dinner in, make love, and misunderstand each other.
Ritual (44): Destiny and Desire
Rating: NC-17
2003, June: Nathan visits his parents, who are spending a fortnight as guests of Mr. Linderman at his estate in Connecticut. Over lunch, Arthur and Angela urge Nathan to run for Congress, and sooner rather than later. That night, Peter goes to a party in Brooklyn, gets hurt, and gets in trouble, and has to depend on Nathan to save him.
Ritual (20): The Milky Way
Rating: NC-17
2003, August 14: A power surge from an unknown source knocks out power throughout the northeastern US. Nathan is trapped in Manhattan, but he finds Peter, and they spend the night together, arguing, drinking beer, making love, and looking at the stars.
Ritual (45): Mutual
Rating: NC-17
2003, Thanksgiving Day: Nathan and Peter spend a day at play, and get very, very dirty in the process.
Ritual (33): Family Values
Rating: NC-17
2004, February 9-16: Nathan takes Peter with him on a trip to Aspen, in an attempt to display "family values" to a group of potential campaign investors, and Peter just tries to have a good time.
2004, July: Nathan and Peter get together for a sadly brief quickie at Peter's birthday party. Ritual (25)
2004, August: Nathan and Peter have plans to get together after Nathan's birthday brunch, but Nathan is called away at the last minute for a meeting. Ritual (25)
Ritual (25): The Game
Rating: NC-17
2004, November 23: Peter and Nathan go to a basketball game, then go back to Peter's to play a different kind of game.
Ritual (35): Left a Mark on My Soul
Rating: NC-17
Sometime in 2005, after Nathan announces his Congressional campaign bid: Peter makes love to Nathan's scars. (This may or may not have actually happened, but if it did, it would be at this time.)
2005, January: Nathan finds out that Kenyon Dixon was killed while on duty in Baghdad. Deeply troubled, he goes to Peter, and tells Peter about Dixon's twisted abuse, and how it twisted Nathan; but also how he prevailed. Ritual (27): Dixon
Ritual (50): The Primal Scene
Rating: NC-17
2005, March: Through hypnosis, Peter recalls the memory of watching his parents having sex, and appeals to Nathan to help him make sense of it in his own mind.
Ritual (1): Bring It Here
Rating: NC-17
2005, May 27: A nervous and tightly-wound Nathan calls Peter over to stay the night.
Ritual (2): Used
Rating: NC-17
2005, May 28: The next morning, Nathan returns Peter's favor from the night before, but in the process, uncovers uncomfortable parallels and memories from both his and Peter's childhoods.
2005, September: Arthur and Angela's 41st wedding anniversary. ["Villains"]
Ritual (13): Gratitude
Rating: NC-17
2005, Thanksgiving: A stressful holiday weekend with the family has Peter and Nathan at each other's throats. Unexpectedly, Heidi comes up with the solution to settling their quarrel.
2006, January 2: Nathan takes a long lunch break to go over to Peter's to answer a booty call. Ritual (49)
Ritual (8): The Pewter Monkey
Rating: NC-17
2006, June: [two weeks after the events in "Six Months Ago"] After the death of their father and the accident, Heidi is paralyzed in the hospital and Nathan is coming apart at the seams. Peter comes to Nathan's house to comfort Nathan, and in the process, and in order to relieve tension in Nathan's marriage, Peter takes back the object which has become Nathan's talisman.
Ritual (11): The Queen of Diamonds
Rating: R
2006, November 5: ["off-camera" during ".07%"] Angela tells Peter and Nathan that she's known about their relationship (and their powers) all along, but that it's time to end that part of their relationship forever.
Ritual (12): Not Without You
Rating: NC-17
2006, November 8: [immediately after "How To Stop An Exploding Man"] Peter loses control of his powers of radioactivity. In the interests of saving the city/"world", and also seeking escape from the web of lies and treachery his life has become, Nathan flies them both up out of harm's way. Through miraculous means, both survive and make it home - and remind themselves that they are still alive in the best way they know how. (non-canonical; basically AU; Jossed. Still a good story, though.)
The Adam Monroe Arc:
Ritual (30): Ganymede and Endymion
Rating: NC-17
2006, November 8-2007, March: [during "Four Months Ago..."] Peter is imprisoned in a Company testing facility. In the cell next to his, regenerator and "dangerous man" Adam Monroe strikes up a friendship with Peter that leads to shared intimacy.
Ritual (29): Truth Will Out
Rating: PG-13
2007, January 21: ["off-camera" during "Four Months Ago..."] Heidi visits a badly burned Nathan in the hospital, and asks him to tell her the truth about what happened. So Nathan does... about everything.
2007, February 12: Peter and Adam escape the Company facility, and consummate their relationship. Ritual (30)
Ritual (31): Montreal
Rating: NC-17
2007, Feburary 13: ["off-camera" during "Four Months Ago..."] Peter and Adam go to Nathan's hospital bedside, and Adam heals Nathan. Immediately afterward, they are intercepted by Elle and the Haitian, and the Haitian takes Peter's entire memory of himself. Nathan wakes, now healed, and vows to be reunited with Peter, no matter what. Ritual (32)
Ritual (17): I Don't Know Who I Am Without You
Rating: NC-17
2007, February: [during "Four Months Later"] Nathan sits in Peter's apartment alone and wallows in guilt and reminiscence of being in love with Peter. Peter, unconscious in the cargo container, has lost all his memories but those of being in love with Nathan. (slightly non-canonical; Jossed.)
Adam Arc continues:
2007, March: Peter wakes up in a shipping container in Cork, Ireland, and after a rough start, commits to beginning an entirely new life. ["Four Months Later"]
2007, March 17: ["off-camera" during "Truth & Consequences"] Peter goes to the warehouse in Montreal where his own precognitive painting led him, reunites with Adam, and regains his memories by thinking of Nathan. Exhausted, Peter lets Adam do whatever he wants. Ritual (31)
Ritual (34): On the Road
Rating: NC-17
2007, March 18-19: ["off-camera" during "Truth & Consequences"] Adam and Peter set out to find Victoria Pratt, and along the way, Peter babbles, Adam drinks, and they commit a couple of nefarious superpowered deeds.
Ritual (32): The Penitential Rite
Rating: NC-17
2007, March 20: ["off-camera" and "on-camera" during "Powerless"] Peter and Nathan reunite. Both of them are amazed at the change that's occured in the other, and Nathan demands an apology for Peter's broken promise.
Peter reminisces bitterly about his relationship with Nathan, and the inevitable betrayals while he is stranded on the ground in Haiti. Ritual (55); ["The Eclipse, Part One"]
Ritual (56): Because I Want To
2007, late May: After the death of Sylar, Peter goes home with Nathan, neither of them knowing that Nathan is now Sylar himself, merely occupying his shape and in somewhat imperfect possession of his memories. This new Nathan is eager to learn about and experience his relationship with Peter, and Peter relates to Nathan the way he always does.
Ritual (58): Possession
2007, late May: The next morning, Nathan is both very much himself, and very much not.
Ritual (60): Connection
2007, fall: Nathan, having escaped from the Sullivan Brothers carnival, goes to Peter's apartment in search of the comfort of what he knows and loves best. Peter needs the connection, too, even if he has no real idea or understanding about the true nature of the Nathan standing in front of him.
*=*=*
ON PETER AND NATHAN in RITUAL
Nathan and Peter have a loving, but consuming and obsessive relationship, full of strange patterns, codes, talismans, games, and roleplay. They are each other's exclusive outlet for the edges of their sexuality, thanks to their near-infinite trust in each other. They idolize, despise, and genuinely like each other; they are far more similar than either one thinks. The roles of the dominant and the submissive shift depending on their individual needs - Nathan usually takes an authoritative role in bed, but it is usually Peter who initiates the experiences, and who affects the most profound emotional breakthroughs.
Each time they acknowledge their mutual attraction, and the times that they act on it, reinforces their bond and also edges them further away from "ordinary" society. Their attraction to each other has a lot to do with their special abilities - Peter's ability in particular connects him to Nathan, but Nathan is also innately strongly attracted to others with abilities, whether he knows it (or it has manifested) or not. Years of repeated sexual contact and discussion have made them uniquely suited for each other - they have extraordinary knowledge about each other's bodies, preferences, and tendencies. Both carry on regular sexual activity with, and attraction to the opposite sex, but deliberately restrict male/male sexuality to each other. If not for each other, it should be assumed that they would satisfy their appetites for male/male sex with other people (in Nathan's case, most likely in secret, and with undoubtedly disastrous consequences). In this somewhat chauvanistic manner, they "keep each other out of trouble."
They hurt each other constantly, often deliberately, but they also love each other more than anything else in the world, and their times spent together are often blissful. Still, the bond is fragile... and now EVERYTHING is different...
"But in the end, all that matters is love." - Charles Deveaux