Boone Headcanons

As per request on Tumblr, I decided to share some of my Boone headcanons that we use in Noelle's story. A headcanon in this case refer to additional details we write to fill in the gap of the canon lore. Since Boone barely reveals his past in the game compared to other companions, we needed to write more details for him. These are however still very much based off of what we know about him in the game with some character analysis and educated guessing.

• Boone grew up somewhere in California with an emotionally distant parent who instilled in him a form of Christian belief. Well taken care of but unaffectionate. he wouldn’t exactly consider his childhood bad but rather unimportant and forgettable.
  
• He was recruited into the NCR around his teen years, and it was the first time he felt like he belong somewhere. To him the NCR was his first real family.
  
• Boone liked following Manny around because he was more sociable and talkative and kind of handled the talking for both of them. He knew his friend was gay but wasn’t aware that Manny had a crush on him. Still Boone loved him like a brother.
  
• Boone and Manny were with the alpha team of the first recon under Gorobets, but the team line-up was a bit different from those we meet at Camp McCarran.
  
• Boone enjoys observing conversations. I based this off of his in-game dialogues about his time in the NCR. He likes to hear people talk and understand what’s going on but isn’t keen to respond or chime in. This was also why he liked being around Manny, and later, Carla.
  
• His relationship with Carla went very fast. They met. They got close. They married. She was also his first romantic partner.
  
• There were some unhealthy aspects in Boone and Carla’s relationship which mainly rooted in their very imbalanced power dynamic. Boone worshipped Carla, thought he didn’t deserve her, was afraid she would find out about his past, and that forced him to hide his trauma. And the unhappy living situation also caused Carla to sometimes be unintentionally toxic and controlling towards him. This is more of an analysis than a headcanon I guess.
  
• Boone has some degree of light sensitivity. He wears his sunglasses as sort of a sensory-depriving comfort item. He wouldn’t take them off at night if the environment is too chaotic, too loud, etc.Boone has some degree of light sensitivity. He wears his sunglasses as sort of a sensory-depriving comfort item. He wouldn’t take them off at night if the environment is too chaotic or too loud.
  
• He likes beans. (real)
  
• He can cook basic food but would always prioritize practicality and convenience over flavor.
  
• Boone has medium brown hair and shaves his head regularly.
  
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The followings are headcanons that are related to Noelle or having Noelle as the courier:

• Boone drank and smoked a lot, especially after Carla was gone. The habit lessened after he started traveling with Noelle because she doesn’t drink or smoke at all. He relapsed badly when Noelle went missing during Dead Money, and the team had to keep a close eye on him. Currently he still drinks and smokes sometimes when someone invites him to (usually Leon.)
  
• Noelle and Boone walked past each other in their teen but neither remembers it.
  
• Boone has learned to be more affectionate by copying Noelle and their friends.
  
• Boone and Noelle have separation anxiety.
  
• Even though she is a lot less talkative than Manny and Carla, Boone still likes to follow Noelle around because of her playfulness. He worries about her safety but also enjoys her antics.
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That is it for now. Not all of these will be visually depicted in the comic but it's always good to have a more fleshed out character. Let me know if you would like to see more in the future. And of course it's okay if you disagree or want to write yours another way. I like mine sort of grounded but I always encourage going ham when it comes to headcanon.