Axe

completely aroace

gay for rock

gay for rock x2

gay for markiplier

gay for the antagonist of his (headcannoned) twin brother's movie

And Bucky knows Steve doesn't like touch, and that's fine. Bucky can show his love in other ways, but god. Sometimes he just wants to pull Steve into the biggest bear hug. Bucky finds excuses when he can. He's always slinging his arm over Steve's shoulder, nudging him and pulling him along. Bucky whos always trying to find some excuse to touch Steve. Steve, waking up in the 21st century incredibly touch-starved. He's living in a society where platonic touching is more common than ever, and the only person he wants to hug isn't there. Steve in the 21st century, who's always giving his friends hugs, who'll braid Nat's hair when she's reading next to him on the couch, who'll join cuddle piles without any hesitation. And then- and then-

Bucky is back. Bucky is back, and the second Steve moves towards him, weapon down and palms open, he flinches. Bucky, who was always the one to initiate touch, now barely able to handle being in the same space as other people. And Steve understands it. God, does he understand it, but it hurts. And he can't help but wonder if this was how Bucky felt when they were kids.

grace & rocky hug in zero-g <3

(no-xenonite version under the cut!)

Ryland Grace has made it all the way to his bike with Eva Stratt at his heels, so her trusted security team has correctly assessed it's time to move in the cars, and Carl is approaching off-screen.

Grace comes out of the little "I don't know why that makes me such a nut!" rant, and there Carl is, stepping up into frame exactly next to Stratt. Tall, broad, unimpressed, unmistakably a force to be reckoned with, unmistakably a trusted professional.

But also a nameless goon at this point. An extension of the threat Stratt seems to represent to Grace. A depersonalized tool.

Grace clocks the cars, his presence, the unfolding situation, instantly and incredulously. And he does something clever, something he always does, which is to call attention to the absurdity of the unspoken threat by trying to force the situation into a normal mold.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

Turning Eva's nameless goon into a person with agency. Trying to force a relationship that hinders coercion.

Ideally, this would force them all to acknowledge how abnormal they are acting and retreat a little to keep up the appearance of normality. Or admit to what they are doing by refusing. Either way, the ball shifts out of Ryland's court into theirs.

Neither happens, though.

Carl sees exactly what he's trying to do with that and interrupts him mid-question. "Carl." And then keeps staring at him the same way as before. One word, and we already know so much about him.

He is not a nameless goon. He is an individual named Carl.

And he fully supports what is happening there. Because nothing is normal and it's stupid to pretend that what is happening isn't happening.

So yes, while he bonds with Grace over silliness and is the astrophage-coparent and instigator of Carl's Hypothesis... he is also entirely introduced to us as the man who will wish Grace the best of success on the mission while he's being sedated on the ground. Because Carl has a personal opinion about what is at stake.

"Sun's really dying, isn't it?"

he always kept neil alive. he felt it was his job. he had to be the one to save neil from himself.

and then todd came. and neil was happy and hadn’t been having those thoughts. he missed rhe signs of it being a manic episode. he thought maybe neil was finally just happy.

so he stopped watching so closely. he trusted neil.

then the night of the play happened. he was woken up from a deep sleep by dr. hager who told him he had a call waiting for him.

his ears rang as his mother told him what happened. what neil had done to himself. he sits on the floor and asks the one question he doesn’t want to know the answer to. “what did his arms look like?”

he throws up when he gets the answer. the answer he knew was coming but still couldn’t handle.

dr. hager tells him to go to the school nurse. charlie walks there on autopilot, his brain completely separate from his body.

as he lays in one of the uncomfortable infirmary beds, he keeps thinking about how he’d failed neil. he shouldn’t have trusted him. he should’ve noticed the signs.

but neil always was a good actor.