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It’s a cruel trade-off Eve is suggesting, that she can ignore the problems Will is both embarrassed by and desperately hurting from, in exchange for a temporary connection. And that’s really the center of this story, that they’re both hurting and using one another to look past that, and getting no help. I don’t think love is possible from this place, even though (we know it!!) they’re capable of that. There’s a gratefulness in love, layering it over the experience of this pain. Over the course of the decade Eve and Will are different characters in each other’s lives, different permutations of love that don’t quite stick, before they become their final forms and really find each other. |
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Final forms … like pokemon
And then, there it is. A cheap compromise so that both of them can get a thin, surface-only version of what they're both really looking for … not just in general but FROM EACH OTHER … but they've got so much more work to do.
I fucking LOVE this whole sequence. It was around this time that I went from "Octopus Pie is a fun web comic" to "Meredith Gran is doing some of the best work in comics, period." Sorry to fanboy so hard, but it's the truth.
Eve: "This can just be nice… Right?"
Will's face: No. It can't. But I want it too badly to not do it.
Aw, I kind of feel indulgent about this. They are both broken and trying to figure exactly how and in the meantime they really want to be acknowledged by someone else. Even if this is just a poorly placed band-aid deflecting from true introspection, I think it's sweet that they managed to open to each other at least this much. A previous Eve would have been too judgemental or self-conscious and a previous Will too proud or full of himself to allow this much vulnerability and humility.
I've been HORRIBLY desperate for a relationship in my lifetime, but I cannot imagine a time when I could even fathom saying "I know you have a girlfriend, but hey, I'm right here, and I know you want me". That is just cruel. That Will even entertains–much less acts on–the thought indicates just how desperate he is, too.
I've had times in my life where I really didn't want a relationship, because for whatever reason I didn't feel I had those resources to devote to someone else. But I did want companionship, or even just sex, and having a fwb kind of relationship with someone where I knew that they were dealing with their emotional/romantic needs elsewhere was, frankly, ideal.
I've never seriously considered being poly, or having a full-on "open relationship" myself, because that seems like an awful lot of emotional work – but sleeping with a friend who's in an open relationship, if they're doing it in an ethical and undramatic way, can feel like nice way of having closeness when you're not up to the demands of a full relationship. It's not a long term solution to anything though…
I think there is a bit more nuance to it. She knows him and Aimee sexually open, and that they both date around. Will has even mentioned it in her presence when talking about it with Hanna. The sadness (to me) is not in two friends having casual sex, but in two people who are allegedly care about each other being so afraid to be actually communicate their feelings.
The sex is really the easiest part of the whole thing.
Will and Aimee did have an open relationship, to be fair.