#((it's working))

i know a lot of people have been quick to jump to "i can't believe devils minion just happened off screen" but i really don't think that's what's going on here. like assad said, armand has given up. he's given up on being loved or understood. even if he and daniel have actually reconciled to some degree and become "companions", we know how armand thinks, and how he sees his relationship with daniel in particular—there's no chance in hell he thinks that title could bear any weight. he so fundamentally does not believe that anyone could love him, and so when someone does actually finally choose him, when he finally gets what he's been yearning for, it's too painful to put any faith in because it has to be an illusion. it's much easier to distrust, to steal away whatever scraps of love someone will give him with one eye on the clock counting down the minutes until they realize whatever they can take from him isn't worth it anymore.

either way, now here is his ex-husband, who he spent almost a century begging to love him, and he's so desperate to say "look, i'm wanted. someone wants me." it's an attempt to convince them both that he isn't alone, that someone will have him even if louis won't. and then louis finally looks at him and tells him that he needs a love that will cradle him, that he's sorry he couldn't do it. do you think that provides a kind of legitimacy to his longing? some reassurance that kind of love could possibly exist? i really hope so, if only for a moment.