"I can't decide if this is wonderful or awful." Charles looks back down at the mess around him, and Erik stiffens, the swelling sense of success punctured in an instant and turning to ash in his mouth.

This rather sums up nicely their relationship for me. I think I've finally resigned myself to this ending badly. Or at least in a fucked up mess that no one walks away from unscathed. God, there is a reason I only read fluff and romance and crack. Angst and me are so not friends. You're killing me here. Killing me. My poor, poor heart, but it's like a train wreck, I just can't walk away.