Alright don’t kill me but hot take:
I feel like the rape might have been the only way the bottom would have realized that he was going too far if you consider the things he was doing before like he said he wouldn’t mind being beaten by a wooden chair leg. That can break bones. I also think it was a pivotal moment for both of them. The bottom now knows his limits and is able to respect himself more and the top has the opportunity to be honest and explore his own twisted side that is very similar in temperament to the bottom. The top just happened to understand it intellectually through someone else while the bottom is a bit more thick and had to realize he was going too far, far to the point of being self destructive first hand. The rape was pretty bad tho I won’t lie. While it was a bit extreme, it made sense as both of them are also extremist. If you really think about it, the bottom wouldn’t have stopped if it hadn’t been for an incident of that severity. He would have probably died at someone else’s hands.
No, I agree with you that rape had sense in the story. Although it was heavy to read, the story was consistent. But now it's difficult for me to follow. It's not that I don't understand what's going on. It's just that I think it's not written well, I feel like the quality of the storytelling is off.
I wrote two different replies, so this one comes second.
I mean, the wants to resume their sessions but he's still having PTSD (the headaches). This part of the story was left unresolved, like it was left hanging, as if the headaches disapeared magically. In addition, we learn only now that the top is also someone who wants to break the other bottom, while absolutely nothing in the whole story up to now was not suggesting that might be the case. it's like introducing a completey new, strong element when you have other knots hanging unresolved. And in between all of it, zero communication and nothing important was happening at all. I understand what the author's intention was, and the idea was not bad (although I personally would prererred a different directon but that's a matter of taste), it's just that it was, imo, executed poorly. It's like having 20 Chechov's shotgun's o the wall and then putting on the 21st one, and it doesn't seem that anyone of them will be shot by the end of the story.
I can def see that point of view. And I agree that it doesn’t seem like the top wants anything but to break him and well I mean sort of raise him back up. You have a good point
...But it totally went to pieces after the gangrape. Before it had its flow, the inner logic, the development was well crafted, the characters well designed but now it's just all over the place. I lost them when they started living together. It's like both of them just lost it. Maybe it's the trauma but if the author wanted to show how they both suffered, I think the execution leaves much to be desired. And then, all of the sudden, BANG! They both want to go extreme. It just feels out of the place and contradicts the whole building of the story so far. At first I thought well: finally a good bdsm story. And yes, it's not easy with sadists and masochists, sm can indeed be a can of worms. But now, I don't know what to think anymore, except that the story was just... bombed. Too bad.