Thank you! And, I mean, I loved it too, just that it was very difficult to portray properly. :D
Charlie sort of sprang to life in my head fully formed -- I was going through my usual questions of "what makes this person tick" and got to 'relationships' and I didn't even have to think about it before he was like, yeah, I've never understood monogamy and never will, but I've at least managed to figure out how to do it without things blowing up. He was definitely poly before he took the job at the Reserve (I think he talked a bit about his teenage dating habits here and there), but the job definitely helped, because dragonkeepers tend to be an isolated population doing intense and all-consuming work and not have time to go looking elsewhere. So they develop a really strong cultural understanding around how you go about hooking up with the others on the job -- and how you don't, not if you want to avoid causing trouble.
When Peg and I were trying to figure out how Charlie related to his parents and to the rest of the Weasleys -- he loves his family dearly, and he's definitely a Weasley, but he's definitely a fish out of water sometimes -- I said that Molly probably thinks Charlie's never had a serious boyfriend/girlfriend, even though she's met loads of the people he's slept with, because a) he keeps his mouth shut about what he's up to because otherwise the Weasleys will be Weasleys at him (although Molly got SO MUCH BETTER about boundaries over time!), and b) all of the people he's slept with have been friends first, not romantic partners, and he won't sleep with somebody unless he's friends with them. (I always hesitated to call him aromantic, because he does form romantic relationships, they're just not his primary concern. But he's a few steps closer to aromantic than your 'average' person.)
Which is why he and Tonks worked together so well! Very early on -- I've actually gone looking for it and couldn't find it again; I'll have to really dig at some point -- Tonks had said she was feeling wistful about Bea getting older and wondering if she should have another kid, and Charlie said, hey, you know, if you ever want to, come ask, I will totally knock you up, and for him it was just the sort of thing you do if you have a friend who wants a kid but whose other relationships are Complicated. Charlie and Tonks were never Complicated, and that's why I loved them! (Well. Beyond the complications of Bill still having not gotten over his crush on Tonks when Charlie and Tonks started sleeping together, but. He did feel kind of guilty about that.)
(And then they did have Adam, and Charlie surprised himself by immediately falling head-over-heels for his son -- he knew he'd love the kid, but he didn't expect to have his life priorities shift so suddenly and sharply on a dime. It confused him a bit! But he's such a great da, and will be again once he gets over the "my life has been completely upended" and "oh God I don't want my kid to see me like this".)
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Date: 2015-09-03 12:44 am (UTC)Charlie sort of sprang to life in my head fully formed -- I was going through my usual questions of "what makes this person tick" and got to 'relationships' and I didn't even have to think about it before he was like, yeah, I've never understood monogamy and never will, but I've at least managed to figure out how to do it without things blowing up. He was definitely poly before he took the job at the Reserve (I think he talked a bit about his teenage dating habits here and there), but the job definitely helped, because dragonkeepers tend to be an isolated population doing intense and all-consuming work and not have time to go looking elsewhere. So they develop a really strong cultural understanding around how you go about hooking up with the others on the job -- and how you don't, not if you want to avoid causing trouble.
When Peg and I were trying to figure out how Charlie related to his parents and to the rest of the Weasleys -- he loves his family dearly, and he's definitely a Weasley, but he's definitely a fish out of water sometimes -- I said that Molly probably thinks Charlie's never had a serious boyfriend/girlfriend, even though she's met loads of the people he's slept with, because a) he keeps his mouth shut about what he's up to because otherwise the Weasleys will be Weasleys at him (although Molly got SO MUCH BETTER about boundaries over time!), and b) all of the people he's slept with have been friends first, not romantic partners, and he won't sleep with somebody unless he's friends with them. (I always hesitated to call him aromantic, because he does form romantic relationships, they're just not his primary concern. But he's a few steps closer to aromantic than your 'average' person.)
Which is why he and Tonks worked together so well! Very early on -- I've actually gone looking for it and couldn't find it again; I'll have to really dig at some point -- Tonks had said she was feeling wistful about Bea getting older and wondering if she should have another kid, and Charlie said, hey, you know, if you ever want to, come ask, I will totally knock you up, and for him it was just the sort of thing you do if you have a friend who wants a kid but whose other relationships are Complicated. Charlie and Tonks were never Complicated, and that's why I loved them! (Well. Beyond the complications of Bill still having not gotten over his crush on Tonks when Charlie and Tonks started sleeping together, but. He did feel kind of guilty about that.)
(And then they did have Adam, and Charlie surprised himself by immediately falling head-over-heels for his son -- he knew he'd love the kid, but he didn't expect to have his life priorities shift so suddenly and sharply on a dime. It confused him a bit! But he's such a great da, and will be again once he gets over the "my life has been completely upended" and "oh God I don't want my kid to see me like this".)