#i reread my hanky panky post while going thru my tags and lol i'm sorry but i love hawkeye's constant stream of encouraging jokes about

[marley-manson]

Hawkeye dgaf about BJ's marriage except inasmuch as it makes BJ happy. He has no personal investment in it. In Hanky Panky he thought the idea of BJ fucking Donovan was funny and worth nothing more than lighthearted teasing until BJ turned out to be genuinely upset about it. He's happily friends with many cheaters and willing to fuck married people himself (except when he wants to marry them himself, ie Radar's Report).

When BJ demonstrates that 85% of his character is 'married' Hawkeye backs that marriage up 100% for his sake, but imo if BJ wanted to get a divorce, Hawkeye would back that decision up too, easily. If BJ wanted to fuck him, the only reason Hawkeye might not be down is because BJ could react badly and it could ruin their friendship and he's got a practical side to him, not because he genuinely cares about the sanctity of BJ's marriage.

And I think this is in keeping with other Hawkeye characterization where he tends to prioritize what other people value when it's relevant to making them feel better and supporting them. He's an agnostic but he validates Mulcahy's religious beliefs when he needs validation, he'll tell Radar either that it's awesome to not fuck or that he should go out and get laid depending on what Radar's upset about in any given episode, he cares about his patients a lot and wouldn't even defend himself when one attacked him but he's extremely cool about Mulcahy straight up punching a patient, etc.

Which, yk, is basic supportive character characterization, but he's got it more than other Mash characters imo, and I like it, and it makes a lot more sense to me than Hawkeye being a marriage cheerleader because he thinks marriage is awesome (he generally seems negative to on the slightly positive side of neutral at best on the concept) or because he's scared of BJ choosing him instead and sublimates that into marriage cheerleading. After all, this is the guy who seizes every romance dangled in front of him with both hands even if it is obviously doomed, and isn't repressed about anything to the point where the writers need to rely on actual traumatic amnesia to prevent him from discussing his problems immediately.

#mash #marley on mash #hawkeye mash #ship hb #i reread my hanky panky post while going thru my tags and lol i'm sorry but i love hawkeye's constant stream of encouraging jokes about #bj hooking up with donovan in the beginning and i love hawkeye's vibe in general #and i love imagining him supporting bj when he gets a divorce lol (and i will finish that wip eventually)