#cat king hate

[sleepy-jeans]

Especially after Port Townsend

[sleepy-jeans]

I react to the cat king the same way I react to a cyber truck

[neitherthehoneynorthebee]

I have to be honest if the cat king and edwin had any sort of relationship (sexual or romantic) in s2 I would have hated it. This isn't even me hating on TCK, who I found a very interesting antagonist. But the fact is, he tried to leverage his power over Edwin to gain sexual favours, and though he did back off the fact he tried at all is red flags galore to me. He stalked Edwin, convinced himself he was in love with a boy who (though Edwin felt attraction to him) repeated told him no, and particularly in the forest scene behaved very poorly. In fact I think I'm being gentle in my assessments. Yes they left each other amicably but the fact that TCK can be on his best behaviour doesn't mean he will always continue to be (in fact, I would be astonished if he managed to).

If Edwin were to be in a relationship with a man other than Charles I would want it to be someone without so many red flags, who hasn't threatened and trapped and attempted to coerce him. All other men who've expressed interest in him have, to varying extents, harmed him. I'm concerned that Edwin, a lad from a time where consent was much less spoken about, might ignore the red flags for a relationship with TCK, and I wouldn't want the text to do the same.

Potentially of course these are things that would be explicitly engaged with in s2 were it to happen. But if it were just brushed under the rug I would very much dislike it.

(Also! This isn't intended as a callout of anyone who ships the two, sincerely do what you like, I'm specifically talking about canon here.)