okay my dissertation on the perhaps edward we really are made for eachother scene. so the thing is. it’s not a romantic statement. bringing up romance is an incitement between the two of them, it’s what drove them apart, it’s what keeps fucking up ed’s life and it’s something oswald will never have. when oswald first fell in love with ed they were two different people, and they were younger, and they saw each other differently. they saw each other LESS. oswald’s original love for ed was idealistic and unrealistic and i think in a way he knew that, but he had no other gauge for love. his mother literally said “life gives you one true love, oswald; when you find it, run to it.” which can be dissected in SO many ways: first, his MOM said it, someone who he idolizes and misses so dearly. he believes nearly everything she tells him, and after her death he romanticizes her even more. the statement itself is a fantasy, the “true love” sentiment echoes fairy tales and movies, which are probably oswald’s only experience with romantic love. and finally, she is referring to the love as “it,” a thing, the love and the one who is loved are separate. oswald was head over heels for a man who had only ever been kind to him, so he didn’t know what he was getting into. and ED had literally the first and best and only friend hed ever had, and ed also historically sees falling in love with someone as in some ways objectifying them and also adding a degree of separation: you lie to them to hide it, they hold the power of rejection over your head. besides just betraying him by killing isabella (which was more about the fact that it was OSWALD than it was about her–that was his best friend, that was someone he trusted more than anything, and he took something from him for selfish purposes) oswald betrayed him by falling in love with him. he also became an entirely different person when ed tried to get him to reveal his true selfish nature by making him choose his own life or ed’s (who ALREADY TRIED TO KILL HIM) and CHOOSING ED. which he literally didnt understand or know how to respond to, and that change was a betrayal in itself because it meant he couldnt put oswald into the box of friend or foe, he was something he didn’t understand, and ed hates that. on oswald’s side, he proved to ed that he did truly love him, which he believed exonerated him for killing isabella because it is something that is just. insane. and ed killed him anyways and said he didnt love him and the man he thought was different from the Them (oswald’s perpetual foe, those who other him) wasn’t. and the worst thing is that he still loves him. and ed always held that over him & resented him for it & oswald resented him back. the romantic love between them is one of the worst things that has ever happened to either of them (in their opinions), it is the largest rift between them & it is what made both of them lose the best friend (& only real one) theyd ever had. they lost the comfortableness they had, the normalcy and the warmth, they were constantly at odds. SO TO MAKE THIS JOKE AT BOTH OF THEIR EXPENSES ABOUT SUCH A VOLATILE THING TRULY MEANS THEY ARE FRIENDS AGAIN! oswald finally apologized for what ACTUALLY broke eds heart–ruining their friendship–and ed finally forgave him & looked at him like he was his friend again. god. jesus