#Platonic relationships are just as important as romantic!!

[ohnoitstbskyen]

asking sincerely. do you see a romance between jayce and viktor? do you think they ended up being something romantic at the end?

With apologies I am going to only half talk about the thing you are asking me, since I have something else on my mind and you happened to hit the button that makes me vomit it into words.

Coming at this from an aromantic perspective, I obviously don't experience the state of absurd obsessive delusion that you bizarre romantic freaks fetishize so feverishly*, but I am often annoyed by the idea that friendship and romance are either opposites or mutually exclusive. From my perspective, the boundary between the two is at best thin, and more realistically not actually a boundary at all except by cultural construction.

*i am taking an excessively hostile, crass tone for my own amusement i do not mean this seriously please be normal at me, weird allo freaks

I won't get into my full feelings about the end of Arcane, but it seems perfectly plain to me that the script, the imagery and the animation presents Jayce and Viktor as two halves of a whole, not opposing forces but alike to yin and yang: opposites which each contain the other. And at the climax of the show, the greatest peril to life and peace in the narrative is resolved by these two men literally joining their bodies and souls together, and going into eternity holding one another for comfort and strength. They are quite literally soulmates, quite literally the most important people in one another's lives.

I don't think that that kind of intimate emotional connection between men must necessarily be either romantic or sexual - I am aromantic, and plenty of ace people exist, and there is nothing in our natures excluding us from intense connections of love with other people of any gender.

I also think it is willfully ignorant (and genuinely homophobic) to act as though these deep connections are mutually exclusive with sex and romance. As though if Viktor and Jayce fucked nasty and made out sloppy style, suddenly their intimacy is less pure or valid, or tainted somehow.

"If these two men who are emotionally close to one another also fuck or get romantically involved, then friendship is dead, murdered on the floor by a dick-shaped knife; vile sexuality corrupts and debases the true, pure and virtuous love of ✨friendship✨" <- This shit is homophobic at a baseline, queerphobic in general, and frankly as an aromantic man I find it pretty fucking insulting as well.

What, are my friendships with other men just inherently more pure and divine, more meaningful and true than a gay man's can ever be, because I will never suffer the vile temptation of adding romance to my affection? Is that how I should think of myself? And is an aroace man more pure than me still, the only source of TRUE male friendship that a man can ever experience, free from the pustulant corruption of sexuality and romantic desire?

You get this pathetic defensiveness (especially from men, but other genders aren't immune) wherein sex and sexuality and romance between men is perceived as a threat to men's right and ability to experience deep connection to each other. But the emotional castration of men comes not from people imagining sex and romance as a component of our relationships - it comes from people who insist that our emotional lives must be ruled by strict binaries. Sex and romance, OR ELSE friendship. Deep romantic connection OR ELSE deep platonic connection. Pick one and do not dare to imagine both, nor act as though the boundary between them is something that we built by cultural fiat, and which can be dismantled just the same.

And yes, yes, yes, I know there are cultural forces literally illuminati-style conspiring to systemically erase the entire existence of explicitly romantic, sexual male love from media, and I know that homophobic puritanism is on the rise and there are material concerns and a real necessity for explicit representation in fiction, yes I know. Everything is more complicated than a tumblr post can cover, I am not trying to Solve Rainbow Capitalism™ over here, I am trying to express frustration as an aromantic man that this stupid fucking binary keeps getting culturally reinforced by both my enemies and my well-meaning allies, when I think the binary is what's fucking killing us in the first place.

So anyway. My position is that Viktor and Jayce can be entirely aromantic no-homo friends, and they can fuck nasty in the throes of mutual need and obsession, and I refuse to entertain the idea that there is an irresolvable contradiction between those things. Each of those can contain the other, or become the other given time and circumstance.

What the imagery, storytelling and script of Arcane makes clear is that Viktor and Jayce love each other more than life itself. To say that that love must be shoved into the box of either "platonic" or "romantic" is to miss out on almost everything that is beautiful about love. It can be both and neither! It can be a secret third, ninth or fifteenth thing that they haven't invented a tag for on Ao3 yet.

They are giving each other whatever the spiritual mind-ghost equivalent of sloppy backshots are on the ethereal plain forever, they are the most romantic lovers in the cosmos, and they are also the most chaste and platonic life-partner friends you have ever seen, effortlessly intimate and unashamedly tender. They are men who love one another, in every way that love matters.

You can pick whichever interpretation brings you joy, and resonates with what your heart needs, the text of the show is eminently and explicity open to it, and anyone who says otherwise either failed to pay attention, or refused to pay attention on purpose.

[dusk-into-dawn]

my hottest arcane take

i think the writers were very purposefully NOT trying to write jayce and viktor as lovers

they explore 3 types of love: familial, romantic, and platonic

it’s important to the story and to real world social critique that two men in media can have deep, profound love for each other that is not romantic. women, of course, can have this too, but we see that portrayed all the time. men are socialized to hide emotions, so when male characters show love for each other, people immediately start shipping them. it’s really important for men to see that platonic love for each other is good. viktor and jayce’s bond feels a lot more flat when it’s written off as a ship.

arcane is clearly not afraid of gay relationships. if they wanted them together, they wouldn’t have to queerbait you over it. they’d just kiss.

ultimately, it’s fiction. do what you want. this is NOT to say gay ships shouldn’t exist, i’ve just observed a lot of erasure of real friendships and bonds due to ship culture.

sincerely, your local aspec friend

[stiffyck]

Can I talk about how ppl are seemingly unable to understand a deep relationship unless it's romantic or familial because it's been driving me insane recently. A relationship doesn't need to be romantic to be interesting and deep and meaningful.

[sugarcubetikki]

If you didn’t know, Christian Linke recently said that they weren’t intending to make Jayce and Viktor romantic but just to show a really close relationship between men which they believe is underrepresented in media.

Of course, as expected, antis have taken this as a way to shut down gay interpretations and bring up how “romanticising a relationship that is meant to be brotherly demeans it”. It is definitely important to have relationships that depict multiple forms of love and yes at its core we can all agree that Jayce and Viktor are two men who love each other.

I believe that despite what Christian Linke says, the way one chooses to interpret that love ultimately falls on the viewer, as their relationship/love can resonate with people in many different ways.

I personally view Jayvik to be partners, friends and lovers because it resonates with me as a queer fan. I personally see a lot of queercoding in the way they were written and that makes it hard for me to perceive them as not having a romantic love.

For example:

Viktor being shown to take Mel’s place in many scenes like Jayce hallucinating him with after Mel and he’s wearing her black eyeshadow.

Mel x Jayce sex scene overlaps with the scene of Viktor becoming entwined with the Hexcore in a way that it makes it difficult for you to even focus on Mel and Jayce.

Amanda mentioning that Viktor was projecting his relationship with Jayce onto Sky this season - the whole science-y bond.

Viktor making the “this is not the bedroom” joke when Mel catches him and Jayce trying to sneak into the lab.

This all resonates with me as queer comphet and their love for each other being superior to that of their romantic interests also feels very queer for me.

And I have the right to interpret them in that way. I respect the way Christian Link interprets them and has shown to depict them but I personally do not see their relationship in the same way and I believe characters are just as much as the audience’s as they are the creators so my interpretation is also valid.

(Also, creators genuinely don’t always agree with each other and they differ in opinions when it comes to interpretations of characters/relations whilst Christian Linke may not see their love as romantic. I believe there might be other creators who do which could explain some of the ambiguity in their scenes).

Also, to the antis, queer love is also a valid form of love, it can exist with/without physical intimacy and still be queer.

Perceiving Jayvik as queer does not demean their love for each other at all. Perceiving them as having a platonic or brotherly bond isn’t wrong either. All forms of love are pure. Queer or not. Jayce and Viktor’s love for each other is pure and can be seen no matter how you interpret it.

The beauty of a story or a piece of art is enabling the perceived to interpret it in a way it resonates with them and it may not be what the creator intended and it may not be what resonates with you but it is still a valid interpretation.

That is to say I also respect platonic readings of their relationship despite not personally seeing it because you have the right to interpret them in the way you want to. And I am asking you to do the same for me and give me the right to interpret them in the way I want to.

[demigod-shenanigans]

Okay but. Hear me out. Platonic m/f soulmates specifically in a heteronormative society.

Soulmates are understood to primarily be a romantic thing by society, because they’re meant to be the most important person in your life, and a lot of the time that person is your partner, but not always.

Reyna who grows up with Jason’s name on her wrist. Who gets through her shitty childhood partially through thinking one day she’ll meet her soulmate and he will love her and things will get better

And then she does meet him and he does love her, but it’s not how she expected it to be. He loves her, but it doesn’t seem to be in the same way she loves him.

And then even the goddess of love tells her she’ll never find love with her soulmate, and Reyna can’t help but wonder if she’s fundamentally broken in some way.

Jason who grows up just wanting to be loved, no matter in what way. Who has Reyna’s name on his wrist and is delighted when he meets her and knows they were meant to be friends. But he’s not sure he loves her in the way he’s supposed to. And he’s overjoyed that he has her, but sometimes he feels sad, because maybe that means there’s something wrong with him.

Leo and Piper who grow up with each other’s names on their wrists. Who find out during the meteor shower and kiss exactly once only for them both to immediately realize this feels off, but if that means they’re broken somehow, at least they can be broken together.

But then something shifts. Hera mixes up their memories and they no longer remember. Leo is stuck thinking his soulmate has a boyfriend, and maybe he’s one of the unlucky few people who is soulmates with someone that has a different soulmate. But then he looks at Jason and Piper together. And sure, he jealous, but it’s not Piper he wants to kiss, and he’s so confused. She’s the one who’s meant to be his soulmate. So then why does he think about what it would be like to brush his fingers through Jason’s hair?

Piper who doesn’t properly remember wilderness school but does realize her love for Leo isn’t what it’s supposed to be. She loves him so much, but she’s not in love with him like she should be. But surely Hera and her mom put her with Jason for a reason. Maybe there was a mistake with her tattoo. Maybe she was supposed to have Jason’s name written on her wrist. Maybe she’s not broken.

Except Jason’s tattoo says Reyna. And it’s clear that he misses whoever Reyna is. He says he doesn’t think he liked her like that, but she’s his soulmate, so surely he does. The name is burnt into Piper’s mind before they ever meet.

And when they do, she wants to hate Reyna. Wants to hate her for what it will mean for her relationship with Jason that Reyna exists. Wants to hate her for being proof that there is something fundamentally wrong with Piper.

But Reyna is beautiful and strong and a natural leader. Jason is lucky to have a soulmate that awesome. (And sometimes Piper kind of wishes Reyna was her soulmate instead of Jason’s.)

Reyna who wants to hate Piper because she’s the girlfriend of the guy who was supposed to be her soulmate. Who might be the reason Aphrodite looked at her and said she wouldn’t find love where she wanted or expected. But Piper is gorgeous and brave and stubborn, and Reyna doesn’t hate her. Sometimes she thinks it might be the opposite. Sometimes she wonders if that’s what her prophecy meant.

Jason who is loved in so many different ways after a lifetime’s worth of feeling unloved. Who is so confused how romantic love is supposed to feel in comparison to platonic love. Who loved Reyna and Piper but never like he was supposed to.

Who holds Leo in his arms and wonders if that’s what home feels like.

It’s Leo who figures it out eventually. He’s venting to Hazel about the whole situation after the incident with Nemesis and Hazel looks at him dumbfounded because “what gave you the idea soulmates had to be romantic??”

“Please tell me one example where it isn’t. You can’t.”

And Hazel just stares at him, then slowly rolls up her sleeve to show Leo the name on her wrist is literally her brother’s (which makes a lot of sense because obviously without Nico she wouldn’t even be alive right now. He changed her life in a way no one else could have)

And. Yeah. That one is kind of hard to argue with

And there’s nothing wrong with the way any of them love each other. They’re not what society expects soulmates to look like. But they’re all so very loved, and being loved platonically isn’t less valuable than being loved romantically just because it’s different. It’s not what they expected looking at the names on their wrists for the first time. But it’s still love, and maybe that’s the only thing that matters.

[glubtier]

This might be an unpopular opinion but: I think it's better that they didn't kiss.

First, the elephant in the room: queerbaiting, which is a term I've seen thrown around. I think Fortiche showed us that they were willing and able to show us queer relationships "going there". So I don't think that really applies here.

Second, the slightly smaller elephant in the room: There are all types of relationships out there and not all of them need to kiss to be valid. Both romantic relationships without physical intimacy, and strong platonic relationships are valid.

But on a deeper level, I think it's important to recognize how much their relationship was rooted in their mutual respect for each other as intellectuals, and being forehead to forehead, mind to mind, is such a beautiful depiction of them coming together in the way they've always come together. For them specifically, kissing would just be A Thing That People Do I Guess. Like, it'd be fine? It just wouldn't have as much meaning IMO.

idk man I have to go through and do a rewatch to put everything together all at once, I just can't help but feel that this is the best ending we could have asked for, in the context of the series. Natch, I'd love for them to hold hands and run off into the sunset and do laundry and taxes together. :') But I think their story is beautiful, not just despite the ambiguity, but because of it.

And while I'm here, I want to say how expert it is to be able to write an ambiguous ending like this that still feels satisfying. That's fucking crazy. And yeah a lot of my reblogs have been centered around doomed yaoi because the tropes are all up my alley, but I think everyone's story is fantastic. Arcane was so good I just can't get over it.

i just need to express my love for this scene.

they literally coalesced in the most beautiful way imaginable. and i've been seeing a lot of people upset with the lack of a kiss. but, this scene should make very clear the love they hold for one another, and i actually enjoy it more without a kiss. touching forheads like this is actually a form of affection seen in the undercity, too. (cry) but what im trying to say is that their destinies are literally intertwined now forever, in every single timeline they will find each other. they were doomed to their own fates to save eachother. and jayce CHOSE to die with viktor, viktor pushed him away. he knew that this was his own end. jayce would rather die than live WITHOUT viktor. I MEAN, COME ONNNN. SOBBINGGGG. all viktor wanted was acceptance. in season 1 jayce would refer to viktors illness as a burden, and viktor in his machine form was his way of ridding himself of all his imperfections, as well as for everyone else. he wanted peace by eliminating human suffering.

but jayce realized viktors beauty in his imperfections. he loves him with them, and showed viktor he was never broken.

and that my friends is HOW DOOMED GAY YAOI SAVED ALL OF HUMANITYYY (and ekko ml) RAHHHH

[valenteal]

I think the Arcane fandom has one thing majorly wrong…

JayVik is not the gay representation. It’s queer platonic/aro ace representation.

We have CaitVi for homosexual representation, Timebomb for bisexual representation, Jayce/Mel for straight representation, and JayVik for queer platonic. I don’t see anything sexual or romantic between them, but they are partners, they prioritize each other over their romantic relationships, they love each other, they would break the laws of the universe for each other and they have no interest in having sex with each other. It’s important that non-sexual but deeply committed relationships get screen time. We know Arcane isn’t just cowardly about homosexual relationships on screen, the fact that they weren’t together was a choice made intentionally. They don’t need to be romantically together to be the most important people in each other’s lives!

Queer platonic relationships are just as valid as romantic ones and people need to normalize that. Normalize complete exclusive commitment in platonic relationships please!!!!!!!!!!!

[wormsinsdirt]

If they make that fucking house add on I crave that they canonize bisexual house I want those men gay I need house and Wilson to be gay

I said this in discord but I’m gonna say it again

They keep fucking up their relationships because either Idk Wilson spends too much time with house or house is Well and ass or Wilson is too much of a sap so he cheats and fuck they’re the only ones that can like deal with each other!1 or rather house is the only one Wilson can act like that with and house. well he only has wilson. if you die I'm alone and so on

Deep platonic relationships are important YES but a gay relationship is perfect for THESE characters

They clearly want romance SO they could totally be gay for eachother!! come onnnnnnnnnnnnn

Just think of how funny house could if he was bisexual? come on.... the prodigal daughter is bisexual... let the old man be yaoi let him

It will already be really tragic that house would never find someone like Wilson again ALREADY. But I think it would make it more tragic that he can’t fill that romantic hole in his heart EITHER because of Wilson!! He wouldn't be able to find new friends, romantic partners or anything again because of Wilson!!

I think it would be tragic fun and awesome and cool

[krdaaaa]

I feel like a lot of people are being purposely obtuse about JayVik.

There is no denying that Jayce has a romantic relationship with Mel. But Jayce basically forsakes that by deciding to stay with Viktor, not to mention all the other parallels between Mel and Viktor across the series.

Jayce and Viktor are now intrinsically and cosmically tied to each other (by their own choice) across all universes and timelines, within every possibility.

Those two will forsake everything and everyone to be with each other till the end. Whatever their relationship is, why should people only be able to interpret them as just platonic or brotherly?

This may be because not everyone has the same view on platonic love, or people are (validly) annoyed that platonic love has never been properly portrayed just as important as romantic love in media.

That is valid, but the responses from some ppl that I see on TikTok and Twitter, is that viewing JayVik as romantic is somehow corrupting their bond.

Everyone should be able to interpret JayVik however they want, that includes, brotherly, platonically, and romantically. This goes for any fandom really, interpretation is supposed to be fun guys.

Keep in mind, no one should be forcing anyone to believe whatever way they want to believe if they don't want to. Just remember that it goes both ways.

Also, no one should be bashing characters like Mel or even Sky for (getting in the way of their MLM ship)

But what do I know, no one on the Internet is normal about fictional relationships.

I just wanted to vent because I was getting pretty annoyed.

[temporalystupid]

Ok first of all, this is super cool, I love the fact that you did this and decided to share, and I agree with you on a lot of it.

But I'm sorry I'm gonna use you as an example in something I've been wanting to say.

I think that people are approaching this group (and other groups like it) without thinking about how they see relationships in general.

There's this idea that you should read up on called "relationship anarchy", which I personally found after discovering that other people place importance on the label of a feeling less than the feeling itself and looking into it.

The best way to explain it without you just reading the book is this:

I have my best friend, I love him dearly, I love him more than most of my family, more than I loved my partners in the past and more than the rest of my friends.

That love however, is not romantic, sexual or platonic, it's just what me and him have, It's our relationship, it's a thing that was developed over the course of most of our lives, and there simply isn't a way for me to explain it or fit it into a mold.

I think this mostly bothers me with things like people analysing whatever is going on between Evan and Jammer. You ask "what is it?" and aren't content with the answer of "Evan and Jammer", even though that's what it is.

It's their friendship, their care, their companion ship and history, and if you could sum it up in words, it wouldn't be as impactful as it is or as loved as it is.

Now again, I wanna make it clear, I love this, you've done a cool thing, and the character analysis going on is cool, but I don't think that K has to be down bad for Sam, they could just be close friends. I don't think Evan and Sam have to have anything going on, it could just be appreciation between friends, is it platonic? No, is it romantic? Also no, it's just the thing that they have.

is this anything? (details/analysis under cut)

(closeups have more extensive ids)

Sam and Evan: need no explanation. Neither of them have confessed to each other but COME ON. whether or not you think they Should be together, there is no way at this point that danielle and brennan are unaware of what their characters are doing which is falling in love. on screen in front of us.

Sam and K: this is where it gets less obvious-- I can't remember exactly why but K in the last episode just felt so down bad to me. Even before last ep, I was starting to see a future where Evan and Sam got together and K was really fond of Sam "totally by proxy" (see K and Evan later).

Evan and Jammer: this one I struggle with if I'm being so honest, so I decided to make them struggle with it too. If you think either of them would ever know what was happening you'd be wrong in my personal opinion.

K and Evan: they're in love. I'm sorry. Not saying they're in a healthy or stable relationship but they are in fact in love. I'm part of the theory that Evan broke up with K and if you've seen his face this season he's dead in the water for them.

Jammer and Sam: he has no idea what's in his brain about Sam. I didn't put an arrow back because I don't know what she feels about him in my head so I didn't even want to make her confused.

Similarly, Jammer and K: I have no read on them. I can however see K being at least platonically into Jammer (they seemed a little too into the Weugan thing). But that's just a thought. A film thought.

That's it! This is all in good fun :) lmk your thoughts if you'd like!

[thewistlingbadger]

I love JayVik, platonic or romantic, because it shows us the importance of realizing what you used to have and how good it was. When S2 came out I saw some OG jayvik shippers complaining about how everyone started to see their potential just NOW and not back in season 1.

Yes. Because you don't realize what you have until it's gone. Jayce didn't fully realize the importance of his relationship with Viktor until Viktor left him. The audience didn't fully understand how much Viktor meant to Jayce until he was gone.

[not-the-living-ghost]

One thing that i really appreciate about dead boy detectives is that they never treat platonic relationships as if they are less important than romantic ones. charles’ “rejection” on the staircase is never truly treated as a rejection, because he loves edwin back in all the ways that matter. in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter if they are dating or not because charles and edwin will always be charles and edwin no matter what

[bean-spring]

@hexhomos makes such an awesome point in this reblog (things I believe too and left unsaid, so thank you!!! Genius brain).

I've always been the one to say we should appreciate more platonic relationships in media, because they are important! But taking away the importance of romance and especially QUEER romance in a storyline to defend the "platonic relationships are superior" argument is just... Troubling. In the way to highlight platonic dynamics people have acquired a very worrisome prude and even homophobic mindset in which we can't defend sexuality or queer romance AT ALL because apparently it's hurting platonic rep. Which is... Insane to me.

Especially when it comes to a disabled character like Viktor, whose storyline, as the reblog says, revolves around abandoning desire and wanting to be his ideal of "perfect" when Jayce loves him as who he is. And yes, you can do so in a platonic way but we are forgetting how powerful (again, especially in queerness) romance and sexuality is to show this. And how powerful it is to show sexuality and romance with a disabled character, since they are often depicted as unable/unworthy of sex/romantic love.

Viktor SHOULD and IS loved and wanted by Jayce with the power of a burning star and I didn't want to cause controversy, so I didn't say it, but despite how ambiguous it might be in canon and despite everyone being allowed to have their own perceptions, not seeing the possibility at least (or completely deny it) of Canon Jayvik as romantic/sexual says a lot about someone.

Hot take and not to be a killjoy or the shipping police but people treating Viktor or Jinx's aroace headcanons as if they were canon is not the revolutionary take people think it is.

Headcanons are always all right but we have to acknowledge that they are somehow damaging when they apply to stereotypes. It might not be the case for everyone but most of the time people unconsciously assume that disability/mental illness=asexuality. These headcanons erase the freedom of attraction from people who are already seen as unable to have sexual/romantic experiences/desires, when it's completely untrue and harmful.

You can headcanon Viktor and Jinx as aroace, but I have seen people changing their minds once Viktor is no longer disabled (s2 with all of his other forms) and Jinx is no longer as mentally ill (alternate universe Powder). And it speaks wonders of how people see these characters.

"I never thought about Jinx being able to feel romantic/sexual attraction until s2!" To believe she's actually only capable of that when she's not "damaged" is incredibly disturbing. Especially since Jinx has always had a bit of a flirty personality too.

"I've always seen Viktor as asexual, I don't know why!" That's fine. You can headcanon him as ace. But I believe there is a reason behind it, most of the time, if for some inexplicable reason the "vibes" of the disabled character are making you think he's ace.

I say all of this being aroaspec myself, by the way. Headcanon all you want but going to people's posts commenting how "it's weird for you that they have romantic/sexual plots when they're clearly aroace" is not a win at all. It's a headcanon, after all, and it should be treated as such, and that's fine. But it also is damaging to spread stereotypes like these.

Of course the disabled character is asexual. Of course the mentally ill character is aromantic. It's not as revolutionary as you might think, tbh.

Fandom is not activism and it's all right to have any headcanons you want BUT some of them are filled with damaging stuff and perhaps we should look into ourselves more before treating these assumptions as something canon.

[aprilblossomgirl]

"I’m happy to have you all as my friends."

We Are (2024) | Ep.16 FINAL

[hamletshoeratio]

Colin telling Eloise that she's fortunate because she has never been in love when it's his other half's fault she had to walk away from "one of the only good things" in her life because LW put him in harm's way.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

See, I think Charles’ annoyance and frustration with the Cat King really was just pure protectiveness and not any kind of jealousy - it’s understandable, because Edwin is not telling him what happened even though something clearly did, which is not typical for them. Edwin doesn’t usually hide things like this! Of course he’s worried!

Charles’ reaction to Monty, on the other hand, is difficult to explain in a way that isn’t jealousy. You could say he’s being protective again, but Charles shows no sign of distrust in Monty, and had no idea of who Monty was or that he might betray them - he was actually very chill with him, except in a select few specific scenes. You could say he just doesn’t like him because he got brushed off during their first meeting, but not only does that not seem like Charles at all, it also doesn’t make sense, since, again, in most instances, Charles is genuinely friendly and is happy when Monty compliments him and seems to have come around to liking him (it completely flies over his head that this is a petty jab at Edwin on Monty’s part but oh well hahaha). You could say it changes up their status quo a bit and that bothers Charles. I do think this bothers him a bit, but I think, unlike Edwin, Charles’ fear and frustration here is directed more at situations (the Cat King whisking him away for several hours, as an example) than others. He’s sociable and likes being able to talk to new people. There’s absolutely no way he’d begrudge Edwin doing the same - and he doesn’t… with Niko. Edwin and Niko hit it off and become very close and that never bothers Charles at all. He’s incredibly endeared to her, just like the rest, and for the most part, he’s chill with Monty too, and smiles pretty knowingly when Edwin confesses to him having awakened some feelings. The only exceptions, where he shows definite annoyance, are when Monty first shows up and gets really in Edwin’s personal space to show him the astrology chart he made, and when Edwin is so sucked into the book Monty gave him that he doesn’t hear that Charles is talking to him, to which he annoyedly says that they seem to have been “spending a lot of time together”.

You could say he’s unused to having anyone get in Edwin’s personal space like that, but, again, Niko. She’s very tactile with him and he doesn’t seem to mind all that much; they spend time together watching things. If it was just someone getting close with Edwin in general, not only would that be weirdly possessive for the character, but it would also mean he would show discomfort with anyone getting close, I think. Does Charles see Monty as more of a potential threat than Niko, seeing as he knows her and her personality and doesn’t know Monty? Well, maybe, but again, Charles shows no sign of distrusting Monty at all.

Monty is a boy. Okay. So something about seeing Edwin so close to a boy that is not him, getting lost in thought over something this boy gave him, really rubs Charles the wrong way. Charles appears to catch on just as quickly as anyone else that there is something (or it looks like something) between Edwin and Monty. He is not surprised when Edwin comes out to him in episode 6, and in fact, seems to have just been waiting for him to verbalize it. He smiles and is not bothered at all by Edwin showing (what he thinks is) a romantic interest in Monty - he just doesn’t like it when Monty clearly shows a romantic interest in Edwin. Um. Well. Well.

Charles is jealous. I really don’t know what else to say.

Look, when I first watched this show, I actually didn’t want them to end up together romantically - I love the idea of one having fallen in love with another who does not reciprocate and the two of them still loving each other just as much. That Edwin’s confession made them closer instead of making things awkward is such a beautiful outcome to this build up and I absolutely love it. However. On my two rewatches, I caught a lot more little details, and I think it would be very strange if the show did not follow up on this. That, plus the deliberate quality of these “jealousy” moments where the camera focuses on him, Charles’ Orpheus coding throughout the show, the fact that Edwin’s arc was far more about realizing his feelings for Charles specifically than just coming to terms with his sexuality, and that even the actors admit that Charles’ response to the confession kind of left things open, it really seems to me like the path leads to a romantic endgame for them, or at the very least, that this possibility will be explored in more depth.

**This is just my reading of it. Please do not use this post as a gotcha for anyone who loves them as a platonic duo or people who really love Crystal and Charles together (because let’s face it, they’re super cute too). I’m just doing my rambles. As per usual.