#dad boy detectives

[majorlb]

AU where Charles has come to terms with being dead a long time ago. (It's pretty mint, actually. And it brought him to Edwin, the best person in this world or the next.)

That also means that when they meet Crystal, his thought isn't "cute girl", it's "lost amnesiac child".

He argues with Edwin that as the only adults in the vicinity, it's their responsibility to help her.

(Crystal is baffled. Edwin hates that he's right.)

They call her "young lady" and call out things like "Oi Missy! Watch the language!" and tease her about how flustered she looked when Niko showed up.

She hates that she enjoys their encouragement and weird old people humor.

And when she gets her memories back... she's so grateful for their love and support.

Aunt Cindy and Uncle Earl start going to PTA meetings and helping her get her grades back up.

They go to her graduations and offer love and congratulations.

When Aunt Cindy Edwin pats her shoulder and tells her they're proud of her, she does cry, but they don't talk about it.

They don't even tease her when she slips up and calls either of them Dad.

They DO tease her when she catches them kissing and has the same reaction any teenager would have catching their parents kissing.

"EW! GROSS!"

JUST Crystal gains two teenage ghost dads.

And of her real parents find out? So what! If she's forgettable, then they're replaceable.

Also what are they even going to do? Call the cops? Pssh

[mirellapryce]

Once again inspired by @majorlb's Dad Boy Detectives, please picture Crystal showing Charles one of those photo apps that show what a person would look like at different ages. So Charles finds her a picture of him from when he was alive so she can put it in the generator to show what he would look like at his actual 50-something age. Now Charles is crying.

[majorlb]

Oh my God 😭💔💕

DBDA not getting 8 seasons means we were robbed of seeing Charles and Edwin babysitting Crystal's little girl. The boys have to put on their disguises to solve a quick little case with baby in tow (shhh... Crystal doesn't have to know). She loves the ghost boys and can recognize them in their disguises. Would Edwin be surprisingly good with kids despite being not very good with other people? Would Charles love crawling around and playing with Duplos and stuffies? Yes and yes.

[technically-human]

The case of the lighthouse leapers

That's right, more Niko angst, but most importantly, more Niko and Charles bonding! This is the beginning of the improvement for their relationship, finally.

This was, of course, a commission for @i-am-as-normal-as-you-are

[soulfulsam42]

I feel so seen by Charles in this moment.

As a grown child of abuse, sometimes I'll tell a story that, to me, is just a story about everyday life as I lived it. They're often stories that I'll even find kind of funny. And then when the reaction I get is something like, "WTF? Are you alright?" I'm like, 'oh no, I've done it again, haven't I?'

Look at Charles' face in the top pane when he's telling his story. To him, it's a funny story: "Oh man, I was so annoying about how much I liked this song that I played it until my dad smashed the tape with a hammer. Hilarious, right?" And then the bottom pane: "Oh man, I've done it again, haven't I?"

This feeling can be so isolating because large portions of your life are basically too disturbing for other people to want to hear. I love that Dead Boy Detectives made this a part of Charles' character and highlighted it here.

[gundamthey17]

i know Edwin is proper Old, but like. Charles has been on earth for well over 40 years now. and he's probably done a better job than Edwin of keeping up with the times (since he didn't have an extended absence in hell) but at some point, being ghosts and not interacting with the living very often must mean he's also not great at technology, or modern slang, or the evolving definitions of existing words. he seems to at least have some concept of what the internet is, but Crystal and Niko are the only ones shown actually using computers or phones.

what i'm saying is, i need more of Charles being a middle-aged man please

[oxymoronicdumbass]

second stage of fandom is wanting to make a reference to your show, but not being able to because the reference is to a fanfic, and it is almost guaranteed that even among fellow members of the fandom, nobody will understand what you are talking about

[homoquartz]

do you ever think about how, when charles first shows crystal his parents, his voice is DRENCHED in affection for them, he loves them SO MUCH, but the minute he has to talk about what they were like when he was alive, he remembers how he was treated

[read-write-thrive]

I know we talk about the Devlin house reflecting a possible future where Charles’s father killed him but have we talked about the Devlin house reflecting a possible future where Charles doesn’t break the cycle of a abuse and perpetuates it towards his own family

[dbdakindy]

whats edwin's relationship to his parents?

Edwin's parents are his dads, Papa Aziraphale and Daddy Crowley. Edwin was adopted by them when he was about 3 months old. Actually, Tess was the caseworker that advocated for them to be able to take Edwin home.

Here is a little peek into his first night with them:

Here they were together the morning of Edwin's First Day of School (TM).

[littlefankingdom]

"World's Greatest Detective" is not a real thing. How would you even determine that? There's no competition putting detectives from all around the world against each others. And, Bruce is not someone that boast about his exploits, he does what he does because it's the right thing to do. He doesn't even see himself as a "good guy", because he thinks what he is doing is what needs to be done. Yes, he is prideful but he isn't this type of guy. He cannot be the one that came up with it.

So, I hc that it's Dick, small young Dick, who flies from roof to roof with Batman, who calls him that first. It's clearly something a child would do, as they will also call their parents "the best dad/mom" or "the most beautiful". It is during a debriefing with some cops, after one of them vocalises how impress they are by what Batman found, that little Robin exclaims "Duh, he's the world's greatest detective!" What are you supposed to do, then? Tell your adorable kid that, no, you aren't the world's greatest detective, that doesn't exist? Tell Batman's kid, in front of Batman, that he is wrong and it doesn’t exist? Do you have a death wish??? The good answer is: "You're right, he's the world's greatest detective.". And when a criminal captures Robin and boasts that Batman will never find him, the lil bird answers: "B will find us, because he's the world's greatest detective!". And, look at him, he isn't wrong, Batman does find them and gets his boy back safe and sound.

Little Robin keeps calling Batman "the world's greatest detective" and people start to do so too. "It should be easy if you really are the world's greatest detective!" taunts the Riddler, "The world's greatest detective is on his way" tells Gordon to his team, "Superman? Pff, we have the world's greatest detective, here!" brag Gothamites...

As Robin grows, he stops doing it, but it stays. As time goes on, people forget who started it. Was it Batman himself? Was it a rogue mocking him? Even Dick forgets, as some memories leave us with time. Only one man remembers: Batman himself, Bruce Wayne.

So, when anyone calls him "world's greatest detective", even to tease or mock him, he doesn't correct it. That's what his baby called him. And when Dick Grayson, now Nightwing, tells him "Man, aren't you supposed to be the world's greatest detective or something?" while they work on a case together, he thinks back to the little Robin who first called him that, and a small smile invites itself on his lips.

[majorlb]

Edwin in his disguise: Good thinking Crystal

Crystal: Thanks, mom

Edwin: .... 😶

Crystal: 😳 SHUT THE FUCKUP! NOT A WORD!

Charles, also in his disguise: OY! Don't talk to your mother like that!

Crystal: [SCREAMING]

Edwin: I...

[mirellapryce]

Post canon, back in London, I can absolutely see Edwin and Charles haunting Crystal's mom into being a better parent a la "A Christmas Carol". Edwin tries diplomacy first and just gives her the heads up that she can choose to do better herself, or else his partner will use his own methods.

Two weeks later when she fails to call her daughter, Charles shows up at whatever museum she's trying to set up in and is just like "I heard most of the stuff in British Museums was stolen anyway. It would be a shame if the last person the cameras saw in the same room as this stuff was you." She tries to call his bluff until he demonstrates that his backpack CAN in fact hold every item in the room, and he's ready to mirror hop to Greece with it if she doesn't ask Crystal out to dinner for impromptu girl's night.

Oh? You're busy tonight? Oh look, the Chinese exhibit. He hasn't been to China yet. He could drop off some stolen goods there too.

[stvlti]

So Esther had a large snake in her basement and a crow named Monty

You could even say she had Monty Python at home

[ace-of-hugs]

DBDA Headcanon #2

Charles spent years and years trying to get on top of his anger and protectiveness because he noticed that, whenever he got really mad (like episode 4 angry), Edwin gets really weird and distant. Charles, obviously, assumes that he’s scaring Edwin and is constantly beating himself up about it.

meanwhile Edwin is distant because he’s trying desperately to repress his sexuality and ignore how attracted he is to angry Chares.

[zinnie-zoloft]

Charles in his old man disguise telling some punk kids about what it was like being part of the scene in the 80s, and for a moment he gets to experience what his life could have been like if he hadn’t died