Carter Howe

* C!!
* JB
* Young Teen
* Full Body

**Carter Howe**, commonly known as **Crush*,*** is the protagonist and central character of CRUSH3D!!*.* Originally from Ovensee, he moves to Renhain at the start of the series in 2010 as the rookie center for the Renhain Deers. He is a first year at Renhain Academy in Class 11-A

## Appearance

Carter Howe is a teenage boy standing a little shorter than the average male height at 5'7". He currently has a very slight, rectangular build after two years away from athletics, but he is trying to regain muscle. His wardrobe is notably garish, consisting mostly of eccentric sweatshirts. Although it's against dress code, he wears these hoodies under his school uniform. He frequently also wears black false gauges in both ears, seemingly only taking them out for hockey.

Despite having braces as a teenager, Carter's teeth have grown together incorrectly due to an untreated tooth gap. He has sharp canines and a scar across the center of his nose. In addition, there is a large, pale scar at the bottom of his torso.

In times of emotional distress, his pupils disappear or narrow into thin slits

Carter's hair is naturally dark brown. He started bleaching and dying it green after The Playground Incident. During the events of Java Bonds, it's dyed closer to a neon green/yellow. At the start of CRUSH3D!!, his hair is a minty green with slight dark brown growth at his roots. He redyes his hair different shades of green depending on availability, with the first minor change occurring in Sinner!! when he dyes his hair a slightly darker mint using Sasha Dellamark gave to him, which was left over from the shampoo prank in Cold Showers!!.

Carter's natural brown hairCarter's lighter flashback hairCarter's faded green hair with dark roots.Carter's redyed hair.
## Personality

Carter is aggressive, extreme, and impulsive. Within the span of one chapter, he goes from defending Scott, to hating him, to being friends with him. However, he is also kind. Scott says that due to his own biases, he neglected the fact that Carter was the only student to invite him to sit during breakfast, and, even after blowing him off, Carter still came to his defense when Lee and Matt were taunting him.

Although he is kind, he can also say things that are offensive without thinking so, such as when he points out Popeye's hyperhidrosis and Scott's height.

Carter is diagnosed with ADHD.

### Borderline Personality Disorder

Though undiagnosed in the current canon, Carter has borderline personality disorder, more commonly known as BPD. This was hinted at by YAA over Webtoon, Tapas, and Twitter comments, as well as introduced in a special Webtoon update for BPD and Mental Health Awareness Month. The criteria for BPD as of the DSM-5 is:

1. Chronic feelings of emptiness
2. Emotional instability in reaction to day-to-day events (e.g., intense episodic sadness, irritability, or anxiety usually lasting a few hours and only rarely more than a few days)
3. Frantic efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment
4. Identity disturbance with markedly or persistently unstable self-image or sense of self
5. Impulsive behavior in at least two areas that are potentially self-damaging (e.g., spending, sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, binge eating)
6. Inappropriate, intense anger or difficulty controlling anger (e.g., frequent displays of temper, constant anger, recurrent physical fights)
7. A pattern of unstable and intense interpersonal relationships characterized by extremes between idealization and devaluation (also known as "splitting")
8. Recurrent suicidal behavior, gestures, threats, or self-harming behavior
9. Transient, stress-related paranoid ideation or severe dissociative symptoms

It is important to note that majority, but not all, of these behaviors must be met for diagnosis. As of Problem!!, Carter has demonstrated signs of at least eight of the nine categories.

## Background

Carter was born in Ovensee, Gernada and is the cousin of Leo White. He was on the Ovensee Penguins novice team, however, he took time off as an injury break before moving to Renhain. In May 2008, he went through an event he refers to as the *playground incident. The* Warm-Up!! ends by showing the immediate aftermath, where Carter is laying on the ground bruised and bloody. In his narration, he states that he was tired of being thought of as too young for the things he was doing, and that the aforementioned playground incident was the event that finally forced him to grow up for real, a metaphorical death.

In the time between the incident and moving out, Carter's been said to have had an increase in dangerous behavior, such as excessive drinking and lying to older sexual partners about his age. Leo tells Henry that he believes it's a dangerous coping strategy.

### The Playground Incident

*As written in a newspaper clipping shown in Idle Worship!!*

Ovensee parents call for justice after a disturbing attack on their teenage son. They state he's lucky to be alive after being hospitalized following an attack by a group of threeacquaintances.

The beating at the playground in Ovensee happened late evening on May 14th. It was caught on video by one of the three perpetrators himself. The video shows the group of students punching, kicking, and stomping on the 15-year-old boy as he is on the ground in a sand pit. The victim, who is in Grade 10, can be heard crying and repeatedly saying he is sorry. Despite his apologies, the teenage boys continue to attack, and insult the victim. The footage ends with the group setting his pants on fire and are seen perplexed by the spreading effect themselves. The screaming eventually alerted neighbors. One youth was specifically identified as the aggressor in the incident and was arrested and later released on an undertaking to a guardian with a future court date.

At the hospital, the family shared information about the boy's injuries, who is now healing from bruises on his body, including a broken jaw and a burn on his stomach. Neither the victim nor the parents wished to be identified or give a statement about what prompted the attack.

## Abilities

* **Boxing**
	+ Carter has experience and proficiency in boxing. Although Matt catches him off guard towards the end and wins, Carter had been dominating throughout the rest of their fight. He learned to box during his hiatus from hockey.
* **Passing**
	+ Carter said that he makes most of his points through passes and assists rather than shooting.
* **Skating**
	+ Shown to have high proficiency at skating such as when he rollerblades down a snowy mountain and races Reuben to school. Matt says that, even as a rookie, he's probably one of the best skaters on the team. According to this score card, he is above average in all skating related categories, with extreme proficiency in speed, acceleration, and agility.

## Quotes

* (About move-in day) "Fuck!!! I'm sorry! What *would be* valid reason for me to be late? Let's pretend it was *that.*"
* (To Scott) "I've survived way worse than this! I'll never lose my natural sex appeal!"
* (To Reuben) "Don't fucking call me oversensitive!"
* (To Scott) "I need to like hockey again!!"
* (To Matt, about butting in) "Because we're a big happy family now and need to get along? Even if you stay a *Mimalty Dildo* at heart."

## Trivia

* His name is misspelled as Chrush on his water bottle.
* He considers himself stupid.
* He greatly dislikes being recorded.
* He uses a small penguin backpack as his daily bag.
* His voice, as shown on Yaa's twitter.
* He carries a little in his backpack.
* He likeds patterned sweatshirts and flashy, unmatched clothing.

Carter with brown hair in the Stitches!! cover.Carter's pupils narrow into slits when he's angry.Carter on the Cold Showers!! cover.