☆★Starbomb★☆

Val when Spell is in danger: his first reaction is actually very physical, driven by panic and fear. During the 2025 Pride comic, every time the "shadow monster" gets close to Spell, Val is running up to him, yanking him along, and using his illusion magic. Notably with his illusions, he didn't entirely understand how they work (even when he realized he wasn't siphoning off of Spell, he still needed Whisp to explain it to him at the end) but he was still able to improvise in the end to "save" Spell. During the 2024 Pride comic, when Spell drinks what he thinks is a dangerous potion, he looks ready to jump to physically knock the chalice out of Spell's hands. He also grabs Spell's shirt

This extends to Steampunk Val, as well. In Boomuda 2, when Spell is about to jump onto the pirate ship actively attacking them, we can see Steampunk Val being physically held back by Steampunk Spelldon.

After his initial physical reaction is his emotional one, but even then he's still pretty touchy feely about it: he's quick to check on Spell while rambling or lecturing him about it, and also touching him in some way. Ex: in the 2024 Pride comic, he grabbed Spell's shirt and looked ready to shake him after he drank the potion, sputtering and cutting off his own words. Earlier in the comic, during the little chibi-montage section where Spell concusses himself getting the chalice, we see Chibi Val sitting with Chibi Spell, putting a hand on his arm. In 2025 Pride, after rescuing Spell in the end, he basically throws his arms around Spell while scolding him for not being a "cooperative damsel in distress"

(Him lecturing Spell actually lowkey reminds me of the scene of his mother yelling from another room about who he's talking to. Not exactly a The apple doesn't fall far moment, since her reaction to the stink incident was to kick him out of the house while Val would probably become very clingy, while also vocally complaining the entire time, if their roles were reverse, but its still neat when you can see consistent traits between family members)

Val when he's in danger himself: he's actually pretty reckless and nonchalant when it comes to his own safety. He's actually a pretty clumsy character, even pre-redemption, and consistently throughout the comics his first reaction to getting hurt is usually irritation (him grumbling about the flying raccoons after spraining his wrist in Boomuda 1, him actually snapping at Spell after they fall at the ice rink in the 2024 Pride comic, etc). After that, though, or when he's in current active danger? He's quick to brush it off: he runs up to an angry dragon and the most he does is complain about his fancy clothes getting ruined, and in the 2024 Pride comic, when Spell pretends to find a potion to emotionally labotomize him, his reaction to being warned about how serious it is "sure, sure, when do we get started"

What this says about Val: well, several obvious things. He's reactive and impulsive, while also needing to both physically and emotionally hold onto he ones he loves, which are pretty consistent character traits throughout all the comics. His self-worth isn't exactly the highest, especially with the guilt he carries from his past, and he doesn't know how to handle emotions (his own or others) after ages of being led to believe the wrong thing is right.

In short, it lines up with him jumping to the conclusion that Spell wants to dump him because he's never had a real relationship before, and then impulsively hitching a ride to a secluded island where he lashes out when Spell rolls a Nat 1 in Communications

-

Spell when Val is in danger: his reaction is basically the opposite of Val's. He reacts with emotion first, and when it comes to acting he actually has a bit of a freeze response. In spite of this, he clearly just wants to protect Val above all else, even if he doesn't know how

When Val gets hurt in non-serious ways/situations, his first impulse is usually comfort, while also cracking a few jokes to lighten the mood, like him pulling Val into a hug and checking in on him/using a cheesy pickup line when he runs headfirst into the mirror in 2025 Pride. He tries to make Val feel better. We also see this in Boomuda 2, when Bridgerton Spelldon actually takes a moment to kiss Val's hand and reassure him when Val admits to being afraid about being alone. Even in the background of one of the New Scaremester comics/One Shots/other MH comics where they aren't the focus, where they aren't even speaking characters, we see Spell acting very protective. In NS 7, when Clawdeen is reconciling with Toralei, we see in the background Spelldon giving a worried looking Val a comforting look, and in Howliday Haunt, we see Spell actually put his hand on an upset looking Val's shoulder/stand a little in front of him when the dance is truth potion bombed

But when Val actually hurts himself in ways that he doesn't immediately shrug off, or puts himself in danger, Spell actually gets upset and shuts down a bit. In the 2024 Pride comic, he actually seems pissed and upset about Val wanting to erase his emotions, and you get the sense that he only agreed to help so he could trick Val into realizing emotions aren't so bad. In Boomuda 1, he outright panics when Val gets taken by the raccoons, saying later that he couldn't even think. Instead of comforting Val, Spell is too upset with his freeze response that he actually shuts down and walks away.

Val, of course, doesn't see it this way. Partially because he's still not great at relationships and interpreting things the worst way possible, but also because Spell isn't a very emotive character. This guy's default face is an RBF, and where Val is a yapper who trips over his own words, Spell isn't much of a talker and seems to struggle when expressing himself during emotional situations. We also see this during 2025 Pride, where he kinda fumbles around the "I love you but you don't have to say it back, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable" talk

For the protectiveness, we generally see this in his willingness to meet Val where he's at and put Val first (the above ily but no pressure), but also in Boomuda 2, he keeps wondering if Val is okay, which is part of why he's so temperamental the entire issue. He can even come off as a bit overprotective at times. Like with Bridgerton Spelldon, who after jumping to physically shield Val from the dragon, tries to talk Val out of facing the dragon himself even though Val knows how to handle dragons

Spell when he's in danger himself: He kinda doesn't... care?

Where Val is impulsive and reactionary, often motivated by guilt or blame, Spell actually doesn't seem to register the seriousness of danger when it comes to himself. Like his perception of danger is skewed. During the 2025 Pride comic, when he was "captured," he seemed mostly annoyed and pissed that his conversations with Val kept getting interrupted. During Boomuda, when their ship was being attacked, he basically threw himself onto the attacking ship and acted like it was no big deal.

Even when he got blunt force trauma to the head in 2024 Pride, he was more focused on Val than anything else

He isn't reckless by any means. Casta says it herself when she says he has self control. Its more like it doesn't occur to him to need to be worried when it comes to himself, either because he's more worried about Val or he trusts that Val will save him before anything bad happens

What this says about Spell: He has a very one track mind, one that runs on ingrained assumptions, it seems. The Order to Val's Chaos. In both the Pride comics, he’s big on making plans in advance, and he gets thrown off when those plans don’t go the way he expected. Since Val is a) very important to him and b) Going Thru It more often than not, he's generally extremely protective of him. Its like his thought process is love Val -> protect Val -> don't worry about danger, Val will protect him

Protect yourself from danger doesn't even pop up in his thought process, and when he fails at keeping Val safe or can't immediately think of a way to do you, he just gets completely mentally thrown off and shuts down

(so basically he's autistic. like maybe i'm projecting but he's one of the most relatable autistic characters i've seen. i know MH has canonically autistic characters like Twyla in G3, so i'd be surprised if he wasn't being written as autistic on purpose)

This also lines up with his overall motivation in Boomuda Triangle: he's wanted an internship with the Cartographer for longer than he's known Val because he seems self aware of his inability to think on his feet, but its clear Val has wormed his way into part of Spell's ambitions. His logic seems to be if he can't think on his feet, he can't protect the ones he loves, which includes Val now

Part of the conflict on his end in Boomuda comes from this as well. He assumes that since he already established that he loved Val, he doesn’t need to keep saying it when Val clearly wants to hear it (he tells Casta that him loving Val is a given and later doesn’t say it back to Val during the goodbye scene in Boomuda 1), and he ends up singularly focused on something that’s both important to him but also stressing him out instead (studying for the internship).

It’s actually pretty cool to see that, when writing BT and going to flesh out Spell as more than just Val’s Cool Boyfriend, the writers clearly took already established traits from the Pride comics and just expanded on them instead of completely inventing new ones.

-

On both of them: its super cool how traits and motivations they both clearly share can are actually being used by the writers to highlight their differences, and both their sweetest moments and their biggest fights are actually born from this similarity/difference. From a writing standpoint, they actually make great foils to each other

Their similarities, differences, and conflicts in the BT series can actually be summarized by these two panels from Boomuda 1

They’re both basically trying to tell the other the same thing, to stay safe and they love each other, but they’re doing so in a way that leads to a horrific miscommunication.

What Spell is saying: please don’t get hurt when I can’t protect you, you mean the world to me

What Spell wants to hear from Val: I’ll keep myself safe and I trust you to protect me when you get back

What Val hears: I’m leaving you maybe forever but also don’t do this thing you love that I should know you love but clearly I’m breaking up with you so why should I care anymore

What Val replies with: oh no I’m gonna keep helping these creatures because it’s important to me like you are

What Spell hears: no imma keep putting myself in danger and you won’t be able to save me, not that you’d be able to save me anyway

-

What Val is saying: please come back to me, you mean the world to me

What Val wants to hear from Spell: I love you and I will always return to you

What Spell hears: I am literally telling you not to get lost in an exclusively physical sense

What Spell replies with: I don’t actually know what I’m doing and I Am afraid I’ll fail at even this basic task of Don’t Get Lost, but I promise I’m trying