The complexity of feelings is mutual. Stede is angry, hurt, heartbroken... but strangely resolute, he finds, despite all that. His worldview has been cemented by cold hard evidence. He knows what he has to do next.
"No, you're not. An asshole sometimes--yes. You are that." He smiles despite it all, the crinkling of his eyes causing a few more tears to slip down his cheeks. He doesn't bother wiping those away. "But you're also wonderful. You're so many things, all at once, and isn't that just something?"
He takes a steadying breath, swallowing back the emotion to deal with later. He wants to punch Ed, wants to kiss him, wants to... honestly, he just really wants to curl up somewhere in a nice pair of PJs and be self-pitying for a few hours. He hopes his roommate back in the Down won't mind.
"And now you have another chance to start over. To be Edward Teach again, in all that complexity. The only way in the way of that now, for you, is me."
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"No, you're not. An asshole sometimes--yes. You are that." He smiles despite it all, the crinkling of his eyes causing a few more tears to slip down his cheeks. He doesn't bother wiping those away. "But you're also wonderful. You're so many things, all at once, and isn't that just something?"
He takes a steadying breath, swallowing back the emotion to deal with later. He wants to punch Ed, wants to kiss him, wants to... honestly, he just really wants to curl up somewhere in a nice pair of PJs and be self-pitying for a few hours. He hopes his roommate back in the Down won't mind.
"And now you have another chance to start over. To be Edward Teach again, in all that complexity. The only way in the way of that now, for you, is me."