#anyway love niko

[alsofullofflies]

Guys!!! A crush not being reciprocated is not a ‘messy unfinished love triangle’!!!! It felt really honest and well done - I loved how Charles and Crystal was balanced with Edwin and Niko’s friendship, and also Edwin literally had 3 other love(ish) interests. This is not queer bait, this is not super hell - this is Edwin, a newly out queer man, having a crush on his straight(?) friend (literally who hasn’t???) and choosing to be content with being single.

Also please don’t be mad and a little bit misogynistic against Crystal 😭 she’s a phenomenal character with cool powers and development that fits with her and Charles’ developing relationship. I’m usually the first on the queer relationship train but literally Charles and Crystal are so adorable and honestly I think Charles and Edwin just give too much besties vibes to feel truthful in a relationship.

[mayomkun]

Glasses buddies 😎

[technically-human]

Hey, don't cry. Ghost yuri, okay?

(Now that you know the girls, they need to meet the boys!)

[rexwrendraws]

heartbreak weather!

[wordsinhaled]

just musing about how niko was one of edwin's biggest unconditional supporters and gentle guides in his self-discovery of his sexuality, and i think it's so interesting that we still never saw edwin confide in her overtly about his feelings for/attraction to charles, though he easily could have at any time.

before the cat king ever shapeshifts into monty or charles to tempt edwin to realization, niko's there to tell edwin that it's okay for two boys to like each other, to let him know it's okay if he noticed monty when they first met, or if he enjoyed the idea of monty liking him; and she plainly tells him that he's completely allowed to want explicit things with another boy.

they talk about edwin's feelings and desires multiple times - he admits to her he's never kissed anyone, and even that the idea of kissing has become appealing to him. she asks him, does he want to kiss monty? does he want to kiss the cat king? but she never asks him directly, does he want to kiss charles? charles is the elephant in the room of that conversation, so to speak; the only other boy they know, the one she knows edwin is actually closer with than anyone else.

but she doesn't ask edwin about charles.

i think it's actually one way niko shows her love and care for edwin, her perceptive understanding of his boundaries, and her respect for his comfort, that she never pushes him to open up to her about this most vulnerable and newly-developing aspect of his truth—that his feelings are for charles—who is already the most important person in his life, and thus so much more life-alteringly consequential to him. even though she hasn't known edwin a long time she seems to grasp that he needs both the push and the personal space to come to his deepest realizations, even as she opens the door for him to come to them.

(i did consider for a split-second that maybe she never realizes it's charles that edwin's in love with, but i vetoed that thought immediately because... edwin just seems too deeply unsubtle for that to ring true. monty can see he's been passed over for charles. the cat king knows it immediately and asks about their 'special friendship,' and not just because he can literally read edwin's desires. crystal is going through amnesia and an identity crisis, and she still clocks that edwin and charles are like a married couple. so it only makes sense that niko can see it as well.)

plus, niko's got excellent reading comprehension, by her own admission; and she and edwin bond over both being great, astute detectives—getting to the bottom of a case is a love they share. and so i just think it's neat that between niko and edwin, the conversation about charles seems to remain deliberately unspoken even when it could easily become overt.

instead she speaks to edwin about charles in metaphors. she starts their conversation about physical intimacy and romance specifically with drawing edwin's attention to the red and blue starfish. "isn't it romantic? they're in love." they proceed to talk about monty, and about the cat king, but i doubt either she or edwin could fail to notice the color symbolism there. and when edwin tries to get scientific about it, she reminds him, "luckily, love requires no logic." and finally she gives him the red sea glass, for courage. courage to help him come to terms with what—and whom—he really wants, whoever it could be.

and in the end... edwin tells niko, "i did actually tell the boy i like that i like him." this is directly after niko tells edwin she's sorry monty turned out to be an evil spy crow and she and edwin commiserate about how things with monty didn't work out for him. and obviously, it was never the cat king edwin really liked. so, just like that, through process of elimination, edwin can only be talking about charles. and even then, they never say his name. they never have to.

i just think there's something awfully soft about how edwin's feelings for charles are first so deeply ingrained and natural to him as to be something he had to be woken to rather than something that happened to him suddenly. then once he was awake to what he felt and wanted, there's something i find lovely about the deep bond niko has with him, that she understands and honors his need to speak around his feelings for charles while holding space for him to still share them with her in his way. something about how charles is so deeply loved that it is easily understood, that he is there in the conversation without his name ever needing to be spoken.

[tapeworrmart]

Have art block and been playing gta iv so. Niko.

[captainfairygodmother]

Look me in the eyes- my heartbroken, seen-too-much-tragedy eyes- and tell me that '"I'm right across the hall" (shy smile) "I like your jacket" (rapidly disappears behind the door and slams it in her face, embarrassed)' isn't the most hinting-at-a-relationship, these-girls-are-so-in-love-with-eachother, it's-love-at-first-sight scene ever. I bet you can't. I'll wait.

[many-gay-magpies]

god what really gets me about dead boy detectives and what i think i love so much about the show and the relationships in it is that like. the romantic and sexual relationships aren't portrayed as being more unique or important than the platonic relationships. they're all just RELATIONSHIPS.

charles and crystal's attraction to each other and eventual hookup isn't this big end-all be-all relationship that shatter charles and edwin's friendship and draws charles' attention away from edwin; it's just a THING that happens. they're just two people that care about each other and happen to also be attracted to each other, and a hook-up happens, then they decide that neither of them are in the right place for it and it's nothing awful. crystal kisses charles, but it isn't some big spectacle of her declaring her love for him; it's just her saying goodbye and that she cares about him, like her hugs with niko and jenny and her handshake with edwin.

edwin realizes he loves charles romantically and tells him, and charles says he doesn't really love edwin romantically BACK, but it's okay, because they still love each other so much in so many other ways that this one tiny difference could never change them—and it doesn't!! they're still just as close, still care for each other just as much, still SHOW that care for each other just as much. their relationship didn't completely end because edwin loved charles in a way charles couldn't reciprocate, but at the same time it isn't "solved" by edwin getting over it, because there's nothing TO solve. it's just another type of love, added to everything that already exists between them. and they have LITERALLY FOREVER to figure out what it means.

the relationships between edwin & niko, crystal & niko, and crystal & edwin aren't given any less weight for being solely platonic, just as charles & crystal's relationship and edwin's feelings for charles aren't given (that much) MORE weight for being romantic. crystal and charles' conflict in the closet is about EDWIN, about how they're BOTH his friend and BOTH want to get him back; it has very little to do with the feelings between THEM, romantic or otherwise. similarly, the weight of charles' and edwin's relationship isn't diminished in the LEAST by charles not reciprocating the romantic side of his feelings (or SAYING he doesn't reciprocate, at least—we can all argue about the legitimacy of that in the notes).

i'm sure there are more examples than this, as well as probably some examples that CONTRADICT this, but like... by and large, it feels like dead boy detectives is a show where all the relationships are given equal weight regardless of platonic, sexual, romantic, or familial status, and as someone on both the asexual and aromantic spectrums who has struggled time and time again with shows casting out the importance of all other relationships in favor of prioritizing romance, that is INCREDIBLY refreshing to see.

[artemisadore]

Oh...but...okay 🥺 My heart is breaking...why do I fall in love with stories and characters again? 😭

[inigosayshi]

Idk if other ppl have brought this up yet but everytime I think about the Night Nurse dropping Charles to the ground I wonder what Edwin was thinking. None of the characters really react either way, so I wonder if Charles was really only gone for like a second. He fell, hit the ground, and stood back up.

It's the opposite of the cat king, where a few seconds become hours. Charles was gone for several minutes, but maybe to the group it was a matter of blinking.

I also keep forgetting that they Don't Know what he saw. I'm sure they Inferred some of it, but Edwin and Crystal and Niko don't realize that Charles RELIVED the worst parts of his life as if they were happening again. AND SHE WAS THREATENING TO DO THAT TO EDWIN.

AND HE STILL HASNT TALKED TO ANYONE ABOUT IT RAHHHH

Idk I don't blame him for dropping the Night Nurse. She was trying to take Edwin to Hell, AND she made him relive his trauma with a SMILE on her face, AND she threatened to do it again? GOODNIGHT, MA'AM.

This is not night nurse slander, though. She's cool.

[edwinisms]

banging my head against the wall every time I see someone reblogging a post of mine with tags mentioning the ‘unrequited confession’. we have been OVER this it is NOT a case of unrequited romantic love it is completely canonically up in the air as a possibility. listen to jayden revri himself and be enlightened i am begging you

[side-of-honey]

Heyy everybody how's it going. I've been working on this for MONTHS I'm so happy it's done ToT Basically it's a redraw of an old sketch I made a couple years ago except with like 3x more characters and much more effort :"D I am also the only person on earth who is able to name all of them but kudos if you can get close :) My own little love letter to a bunch of things I think are super cool <3

Koen(bnuuy) is from @dream-trail-rpg

Akari(camera) belongs to @twipsai

Also reminder that you MAY NOT REPOST MY ART ON THIS OR ANY OTHER SITE. Thanks.

Please dont like without reblogging or ill cry /hj

[eggy-the-boy]

Something something Charles giving himself the brawn label and Edwin the brains label. Something something Edwin always compliments Charles when he figures something out. Calling him a genius and emphasizes that Charles is more than just the fighter of the two. Something something these two make my brain rot.

[larsnicklas]

game ten puck ➡️ mikksy

[pawnguild]

dd2 pawn swap, 1/?

trying to sketch pawns from the dd2 pawn swap! it might take a while, but hopefully i can get everyone eventually :)

featuring:

hes & niko (me 🙈) / avraham (@bardistraee) / fe'gahl (@thehappiestgolucky) / galapagos (@kuruna) / kassandra (@muralikesgames) / seresa (@themanwhomadeamonster)

[ratatatastic]

mikksy blowing smoke into the lens whilst muzzy and benny tinker with the cup oh hot girl shit she found the camera real fast i think i just found my manic dream pixie girl shes so quirky

edmonton oilers @ florida panthers game 7 postgame | 6.24.24 (x)