freenarnian:

The thing that gets me about Gen? (I hear you: His snark! His cleverness! His adorable petulance!) His kindness. Gen is so kind. The thread running through this entire series is Gen being excessively kinder than he has to be, kinder than anyone ever expects him to be, kinder than they even want him to be. (I’d cite a bunch of examples but I know you know. And if you don’t, just consider this a prompt for pondering during your next reread.) Heck, Ambiades edges towards the fringe of being a decent human being and Gen is like “you know what, I almost like this guy.” Gen may smirk, snap, talk back, whine, boast, and verbally spar with anything and everyone, but he is a thief, and it’s all just sleight-of-hand, distracting you from the hidden strings he’s pulling in favor of as many people being as all right as he can possibly make them, oftentimes at great personal risk/cost. We joke about it, but Gen really is looking into the camera and mouthing, This is a love story.