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"Every time I see the Cat King I am painfully reminded of my inexperience." Edwin said without thinking. And was that not indicative of his state of mind - him saying something without prior thinking. Ever since the Cat King had first made his advances towards Edwin, his mind had been a jumbled mess more often than he could account for and more frequently than was acceptable to him.
"Do you want to kiss the Cat King?" Nico asked carefully. Of course she would catch onto that, Edwin chided himself. It was his mistake, really, bringing up the Cat King. He was irritated with himself, but at the same time strangely relieved, that, in Nico, he had found someone, with whom he could talk about this, safely and with no judgement, should he want to. He did not, now. He wished not to have to even think about it.
"Absolutely not." He responded promptly - Had that been too quickly? - and with more conviction than he really had. 'Liar', his mind reprimanded Edwin accordingly. He faced the sea, so as not to be found out by Nico's distinctive observational skills. He had wanted the Cat King to kiss him at their first meeting. Badly so. He was still shocked by how badly he had wanted that kiss to happen. All logical thinking had been banished from his mind in that moment. He had never experienced anything remotely alike before.
'It is no lie.' Edwin contradicted his mind. He did not want to kiss the Cat King. He did not want to want to kiss the Cat King. He was terrified. He was ashamed. And those were only the feelings he had been able to distinguish on that topic -
"Red." He heard Nico say from beside him. His thoughts stopped racing. Edwin turned to face her again. She was holding out a red piece of sea glass towards him. "For you", she continued, smiling kindly, understandingly. "For courage." Edwin felt that he had never been more grateful to have met Nico than in this moment. He took the sea glass carefully, smiling slightly back at Nico. He hoped she understood what he was unable to convey with words.