this is kind of a confusing question and I’m not sure how to phrase it so sorry about that lol, but do you ever think about how eiffel’s inabiliity to focus on difficult or unpleasant or boring tasks might impact his relationships with others? since that as a character trait is mostly shown wrt how it impacts his work on the station

yes, for sure! hm. how to phrase this. i think those things overlap, because the hephaestus is kind of a closed environment. like minkowski tells him: when you're in a place like that, you pick your battles. eiffel not cleaning up after himself, etc. might be annoying, but it's lower on the list of priorities than, um. managing the space station so everyone doesn't die. and he can't entirely flake because, well. he's stuck there. eiffel definitely... well, he has unmanaged adhd. he's forgetful, he's impulsive, the idea of doing something now to make it easier on his future self is pretty much incomprehensible to him - and i think that's frustrating for him, when it's something he actually cares about. he doesn't like letting people down, he just thinks it'll hurt less for everyone (including himself) if they expect it.

eiffel so easily falls into that cycle of, like. he does something that bothers someone -> they try to talk to him about it -> it doesn't sink in -> this happens a couple of times, and they decide it's not worth fighting about -> he keeps doing whatever annoying / hurtful / etc. thing because he "didn't think you minded."

canonically, the interpersonal part is explored more through... emotional transgressions, rather than his unwillingness to do physical tasks, but i think the root cause is the same: "i'm just trying to help!" / "are you? are you really? or are you just trying to not be bored for half a second? to distract yourself from how much you can't stand yourself?" even just within shut up and listen... eiffel insists on using the name he wants for their project, even if hera prefers a different one. i think you can extrapolate a lot from that.

and eiffel has lived a pretty lonely life - he doesn't expect people to stick around, but because of that, he's never really had to account for how other people would fit into his life, how he might have to inconvenience himself sometimes for the people he loves. on his own, if eiffel forgot to go grocery shopping, or didn't do his laundry, neglected household maintenance, etc. then he was the only one who really had to deal with the consequences of that. it wasn't an indication to others about whether he valued their time and/or comfort. like, back to his radio show with hera - if she wanted to do something he thought was boring, would he be able to suck it up and enjoy that she was enjoying it, or would he just whine about not getting to do his thing? that mindset has definitely been a problem for him in previous friendships and romantic relationships.

to put all of that a little more succinctly: i think eiffel cares a lot, and he wants to show that he cares, but he can be kind of self-centered. i think eiffel is a surprisingly good gift giver, and makes a big deal out of other people's birthdays, for example - but that's because his birthday is important to him; i think it might be harder for him to wrap his head around when it's something he wouldn't care about, but it's important to someone else. i also think it's much easier for him to make an active effort where it's being recognized that he's showing care, rather than sustained, daily, monotonous tasks that largely go unremarked on. you know? i think he can get better at it, and i think caring for other people might help him take better care of himself, too, but i don't think it's ever going to be easy for him.