jedibuttercup

That essay is fantastic, both for its insights into the River/Mal relationship and those into Mal's character in general.

Your reasons make perfect sense; it's hard for me to articulate why I feel the power balance is even between them despite his technically being her employer (if she's treated as a real member of the crew, at least) and the owner of her home. The only reason I can ever put into words is just, "Mal would never use that against her," and it's obviously true, but it isn't enough exactly. Maybe more of, "River knows Mal would never use that against her." The age difference never really enters into it for me at all, for whatever reason.

River perceiving any kind of intimate relationship as an invasion does make sense, and I can see how it would complicate your view of them and make it hard to write them. The biggest problem in writing River in romantic fic as I see it is balancing her between being not magically healed, but still sane enough for things to work out. It's a balance most writers (and I include myself here, definitely) seem to have a hard time hitting.