UMG Button hoverable and visible but doesn't allow hover unless clicked first?

This video showcases the problem I am having

I need to set up widgets that activate effects once hovered over. However, it seems that I can only activate my on hover events once I click on the screen. This seems to take the mouse out of the game space and put it on some kind of UI layer. Once on the UI layer it lets me hover the cursor over the mouse but the cursor no longer controls the player rotation which is not acceptable. Does anyone know how to fix this?

ALTERNATIVELY: Once I hit C I’d need the cursor to IMMEDIATELY de-sync with the camera and cover the HUD. This might actually be preferable. Right now after C is pressed I must ALSO left click the screen in order to interact with the UI. If that left-click could be removed entirely and I could be put into that state immediately after pressing C that would solve my issue!