#OH !!! and i know he says he doesn't see the appeal of kissing in ep 4 but courting and kissing are VERY different things

[agencyboys]

I couldn't get this little missing scene out of my head!!! I mean how do we go from Niko asking him if he knows it's okay to be gay to just straight up asking if he wants to kiss boys in the next episode?! I think perhaps they did have some discussions between the episodes, and while Edwin was still figuring himself out, Niko was able to suss him out for certain.

"Niko, I am afraid you might have misunderstood me earlier at the library today... Of course, I know that two boys can - what did you say?- Ah, "like like each other." I may have died in 1916, but my politics certainly did not stagnate there. I simply meant... while, yes, Monty and I are both boys, that is just... not where my... proclivities lie."

Niko stares at him with what can only be described as gentle confusion and asks "Okay... so you're saying you don't want to date boys?" Edwin tries not to panic because he can hear the doubt in her question.

"Precisely. Frankly, I do not think courting as a whole is in the books for me. I never truly understood the appeal, " he explains. Niko looks at him with poorly hidden sadness at this comment.

"Well, that's toootally okay. You don't have to date anybody if you don't want to! But... I really think you should still read some of my manga. They can be very informative."

[eccentric-objects]

okay ppl can ship what they ship and I don't rlly care but I just do not get the appeal of chedwin. like from a characterization and storytelling pov I just don't think it makes any goddamn sense.

and okay, I've seen some ppl get rlly caught up in the ages of characters but that's not what I'm talking about, I'm talking about how it just doesn't seem like edwin had any romantic feelings toward the cat king. like yeah edwins clearly attracted to him on some level but that doesn't necessarily mean he even wants anything to come from that. he blatantly says this when niko asks him if he wants to kiss the cat king in ep 4. he knows he find the cat king attractive on some level but he's absolutely certain that he doesn't want to kiss him. and this happens a lot in fiction where attraction is equated to wanting to be in a relationship (romantic or sexual) and it's just ... not true. like at all.

and even that wasnt the case there isn't any indication that edwin is romantically attracted to him and edwin just ... doesn't seem like he'd get into a relationship without the romantic aspect of it. and once you consider that it brings charles into the mix bc edwin is canonically in love with charles and wherever you stand on charles' feeling doesn't really matter bc as long as edwin is in love with charles I truly can't see him pursuing anything else. and edwin isn't someone who takes things lightly, if he thought being in love with charles was a passing thing I don't think he would've told him, I think he told charles bc these feeling are big, important, lasting feelings that he needed charles to know about. it's not something he's trying to get over, it's simply a fact. and edwin is pretty intense about pretty much everything he does and I highly doubt he'd ever consider being romantically involved with anyone if he knows he's in love with someone else.

and putting that aside, just looking the arc of their relationship it wouldn't make any sense for them to be together romantically. the way they end things in port townsend isn't a hint at romantic feelings on edwin's part, edwin basically said "youre flirting with me bc you're lonely" and the cure to loneliness isn't a romantic relationship, it's friends. the comment about them both being lonely isn't about romance, he's saying they both need more friends. "oh but the cheek kiss" I kiss my friend I have no romantic feelings for on the cheek all the fucking time and edwin was practically cuddling with niko on the roof earlier that episode. ppl can be physically affectionate with ppl they're friends with and I think it was more of a point of "it doesn't need to be a romantic or sexual relationship for it to be physically affectionate"

also I just think them being completely platonic friends where the cat king is still flirty bc that's just his personality has so much comedic potential