(what’s this? more aro-mash posting? it’s more likely than you think)

while i do hc some aro and ace Hawkeye for the funsies, i know the aceness isn’t technically supported by the text (and of course if that were to stop me i would have nary an ace character anywhere) but the aromantic read is surprisingly present, for him and for Margaret and for Charles especially -- 

and Mulcahy, although his is a little different in that he’s never really positioned in a romantic tryst that he needs to figure out for himself and then move on from. He simply doesn’t have a narrative related to romance (he does have a character get a crush on him, but it’s firmly unrequited). There is, within the plot, a reason to not give Mulcahy romantic narratives (although they could’ve if they’d wanted to get Spicy I suppose), while the other three do have a few apiec + don’t have “an excuse” to fall back on (to an extent, see Charles). This not to say I can’t/don’t hc him as aromantic, but that there’s perhaps less to explore within the text as meta, because he’s sorted, he’s got God, the end. there’s no tension of aromanticism that I can think of off the top of my head (do let me know if there’s lines or scenes or storylines that do have something suggestive to them)

the very simple idea that their stories do not hinge on an overarching romantic conclusion, and especially especially for Hawkeye and Margaret, who have quite a few conversations notably (most?) often with each other about romance and their lack of success at it, only to gravitate towards one another’s orbits over and over, and then for the story to say, “it’s not romantic -- it is a deep, understanding friendship, and it’s very, very important for the both of them (and is possibly their least drama free relationship once comrades in arms happened?)”

there’s nothing stopping the story, really, from making it romantic, although I wouldn’t have been a fan of it, precisely because they’re far more powerful a dynamic as friends (and I think perhaps they instinctively got that in the writing room, even if safe to say they presumably were not saying, “let’s queer this notion of romantic-ends are the only proper ends” -- Alan Alda at the very least seemed to be interested in Hawkeye’s lack off romantic commitment, which is funny coming from famous-for-loving-his-wife Mr Alda and I continuously wonder if he knows about aromanticism as a concept, on some level wish someone had been around to ask him some more about that facet of Hawkeye at the time) 

Hawkeye and Margaret get the main thrust of their relationship development from seasons 1-7, and for the most part after that are just on a level of understanding and (almost) total lack of conflict with each other -- when they kiss in GFA it’s satisfyingly non-romantic, and also contains that specific hard-to-describe spark that makes their dynamic work

I’m still going through my several at-the-same-time rewatches, so I’ve only seen the Charles romance episodes once, but my first instinct (which also includes the odd “lets see if Margaret and Charles have some kind of chemistry” episodes in s6) is simply that he’s lonely, very aware of his Duties As Eldest Son Of Posh Family, wants some kind of connection, but under his constraints cannot form one, never mind articulate what it would look like ideally

so you get these episodes like the one with the French woman, where he’ll be so excited about all the things they have in common and the moment she starts talking about a romantic relationship, he suddenly goes hard on the “my family wouldn’t approve,” line, which on that first watch wasn’t quite so solid for me as a reasoning... but we’ll see on watch the second. It did feel like a handy excuse that came from being afraid (but afraid of what, good sir!)

Also it makes sense he wouldn’t share his (a)romantic woes with anyone else, not sharing things is one of his main character traits, but I’ll keep an eye out for how this lack-of-romance interacts (if it does) with the others. He does of course have One (1) sharing moment with Hawkeye, in relation to fathers/dads