#charles is hard for me bc in some ways he's v sympathetic but i think he is hands down the most abusive character in tsh

[quidfree]

Thoughts on the Charles x Francis relationship? Because I have so many

oh god it's so much.....there's so much to say but to me it's just so upsettingly doomed

francis being canonically in love with charles is so francis. like it's such in character masochism. charles is the handsome easy-breezy charming guy with not-so-hidden rage issues and a drinking problem everyone brushes under the rug. of course that's who francis pines after. like aghhh

now early in canon it's the whole exquisite suffering thing bc despite this whole little character drama they are also just friends who get along. francis is the twins' bestie. they have fun. they make jokes. they're kind of sensitive souls. they have a sort of joint debonair laissez-faire hedonist energy. it's very old boys club maurice vibes. for francis charles is his friend he is in love with. from charles POV they are friends yes but the whole sex thing is just kind of another mindless indulgence.

charles is always hard to pin down bc while he has consistent traits a lot of his personality shifts drastically from a to z. so i'm open to argument. but i personally think he's not especially into men. he lets the francis thing happen but it's like any of the kind of grimy things he does when he's drunk - he doesn't want to think about it the next day and he quietly kind of holds it against francis. as for francis' feelings he does not take them especially seriously bc he just doesn't take francis that seriously. poor francois! etc.

i respect the fix-it post-canon shippers but for me i think for how francis and charles end up their relationship is doomed from jump. when francis is fumbling desperately to fix charles' downward spiral and charles is aggressively shutting him out and decrying him as an untrustworthy nobody, you can see the imbalance very clearly- francis trying questionably but earnestly, charles refuting him cruelly but not insensibly. and i think that's kind of the set-up with them. bc francis sleeping with charles only when they're drunk and when charles denies interest otherwise is fucked on Both of their parts for different reasons.

i think you could tilt your head and read it differently- like maybe charles does reciprocate on some level and just drinks before sex for deniability, and the fall-out at the end is worsened by shattered illusions/bitter ex energy on his end- but for one thing i still don't see the relationship really bouncing back from that, and for another there's the camilla of it all (as in i think charles' primary focus of interest is unfortunately his sister). the inevitable collapse remains. i 1000% can see post-canon rehab reunions, with or without messy undefined relationship rebounds, but charles eventually fucking off to run a bar with a random woman rather than having a falsettos style on-and-off drama with francis in boston just feels in character.

also i always come back to francis drunkenly kissing camilla for a laugh and charles almost wrenching his arm out of his socket. like that's... yeah.