atomic hawk, the reason i get up in the morning, the reason i cry myself to sleep at night, the purest ship in the whole world made of 2 people who genuinely have the biggest, kindest hearts and believe in love and honesty and goodness
and like, the more i learn about comics hawks + ray the more i’m like of course atomic hawk is a thing because of course a small part of ray has been in love with kendra since the moment he saw her, everyone is a little in love with kendra, she’s a literal goddess and princess like, that’s kind of her thing
and the thing about atomic hawk that kills me is how they anchor each other- how they’re a lot less self-sacrificing and reckless when they know they have the other to come home to. and ray loves her. he adores her. he would do anything for her- and i think kendra loves him so much that the idea of him being that devoted to her, that willing to get hurt for her, is so scary to her. because that’s what always happens to carter, and i almost think by time 207 theres a dull ache of acceptance that he will always die for you- but ray isn’t supposed to be a part of this. ray isn’t supposed to get hurt
how sweet it would be to die by your side- something she accepts and understands with carter, something she refuses to have with ray. and ray is infatuated with it, with the true intensity of being a soulmate, he wants that more than anything in this world. to be the one linked to kendra’s soul, death and all
and she could never stand to see him hurt for her. not ray, who is gentle in ways that carter isn’t, who is good in ways the hawks have never been allowed to be. she wants to protect him as much as he wants to protect her, and if that’s not true fucking love, that utter selflessness and sacrifice, i don’t fucking know what is