#suddenly the minutemen dont care if he looks away while talking

[amazinglyegg]

Oh and another hc! Danse is autistic but has little problem with eye contact for the most part because the Brotherhood trained him out of it, but when he's emotional in casual settings his ability to maintain it falters. This is most notice by him always looking away when he smiles

Y'know I've always imagined him to have a problem with Too Much Eye Contact, like, staring-into-your-soul levels of eye contact, but I think both of our headcanons actually work...

Danse hears that "not looking someone in the eyes is considered rude/people will think you're lying or untrustworthy" so he starts just STARING all the time. Maxson's giving a speech? Staring out of respect. Giving orders to his team? Staring so they know he's serious and trusts them. He's the living embodiment of this meme:

He gets so confused when initiates cower away from him because he tries hard not to be intimidating, what is he doing wrong? Is it his power armor? His rank? Is he not friendly enough?

And it's not like anybody will call him out on it because god forbid neurotypicals talk about their issues because of his rank, so he just continues doing this for years thinking he's being polite.

Maybe it takes Sole pointing it out to him or maybe he starts to feel comfortable enough around Sole, but he'll start letting himself look away more. While laughing, or telling a joke, or having a serious conversation. It's way more comfortable to him and Sole doesn't seem to mind. Danse looking away while he's talking is an easy way to tell that he enjoys someone's presence even when he won't admit it