#dbda headcanons

[skylee-spider-lillis]

My random dbda headcanons part #1

I hc that whenever the boys are approaching each other from behind, they make sure to make some sort of a general casual sound (dropping off backpack, knocking, or anything they can do casually to make a sound) first to let the other one know they're there, to not make the other boy jump/flinch when they arrive from behind.

They subconsciously get each other's need to know their surroundings because of their traumas.

They don't talk about it. It's just a thing they started to do because they both understand the jumpscare of someone sneaking on you. Charles started it first. Edwin tries to do it too.

[addie-your-queen]

head canon that one day edwin is out of the office when a client walks in and charles is like "hi my partner isn't here right now but you can talk to me until he gets back"

and they are talking for a while and of course charles is talking about edwin and then the client asks how long they've been dating and charles is of course very confused because they aren't dating and the client is like "oh i just thought since you kept referring to him as your partner" and charles is like "yeah my buisness partner" and the client is awkwardly like "oh" and there is a very long awkward silence.

and then edwin walks in and charles is all like "hi edwin 🥰🥰" and now the client is even more confused

[paraphwrites]

more dbda headcanons

crystal is a ride-or-die coca-cola girlie. niko is partial to pepsi. charles always liked dr pepper best. edwin likes coca-cola but when he finds out they took out the cocaine he is like literally what even is the point. this effectively ends the argument

crystal uses those little blue star pimple patches and whenever she does, niko will give it a little kiss. it's all very cute. except charles and edwin don't realize what or why this is, so they assume it's some human tradition, and so they start doing it too

niko has a bedazzeler and she uses it for evil

edwin actually is extremely good at handling his drink. he could drink crystal under a table. crystal is extremely mad when she discovers this the hard way (they play 'never have i ever' and not only is edwin constantly drinking because he has been around the block more times than once, but he's barely even tipsy)

crystal has actually never checked her email ever. she has 15,079 emails and counting. edwin is very distressed by this

charles had a pirate phase as a kid. crystal had a dinosaur phase. niko had a horse phase. edwin had a train phase. this isn't even a headcanon i'm objectively correct

crystal has broken her phone like 15 times

when crystal finds out niko's never kissed anyone, she offers to be the first - not even necessarily in a romantic way, just like "you're my friend and i'm happy to share this experience"

crystal is extremely anti romeo & juliet. this leads to many fights between her and charles

crystal has seen chicago 13 times. it's the only musical she's ever seen and at this point she can't see any others just for the bit of having seen chicago 13 times

[majorlb]

I just had a revelation.

Comic Edwin canonically loves jazz.

Netflix Charles is a ska-punk.

Ska is just as chaotic and fun as jazz is.

Charles introduces Edwin to ska, Edwin introduces Charles to jazz, and they both love it. That's why they have so much fun dancing.

[mrnightingale]

Inside me there are two wolves and one says lesbian Niko and the other says aroace Niko and they both coexist quantumly waiting for each occasion when I use one or another headcanon.

[terresdebrume]

Headcanon that post canon, Charles opens up about his history of abuse and racist harassment to Edwin a bit more, but every time he tacks on something along the lines of "I know it's nothing compared to hell but"

And Edwin, who's made a whole lot of progress about not using his passage in Hell as a trump card (because Charles said something about it—quite likely for the first time!—because of the whole thing with Crystal) is absolutely slammed by retrospective guilt every time

[not-the-living-ghost]

i really love how the fandom took the fact that george rexstrew has wavy hair and ran with it

[isnt-that-wizardd]

dbda headcanons

hello i'm bored so here are some dead boy detective headcanons for you!! all are gen (no specific ships) though i do also have some payneland specific ones if anyone is ever interested

The boys own so many copies of Clue because they SUCK at keeping track of all the pieces. Inevitably they lose a character piece or accidentally rip one of the cards or do something like throw the board off a roof when they get frustrated and can’t find everything when they try to pick it up. So they just buy a new board. Only three of them still have a full set of things for the game, and one of them has only the pieces and cards but no actual board. A couple of them are mismatched because when they first started they thought to just pull the things they needed out of the new box so they could continue using the old one, but then they just lost track of what was where. 

Charles usually wins when they play games, unless it’s trivia. He still has an edge up on Edwin on pop culture, but only if the game is old enough. They both stopped paying attention to that kind of thing in the late 90s, so half the time if they are playing a trivia game, they’ll just take out that category all together. 

Niko has made it her life’s mission to catch them up on everything, though, so they have a regularly scheduled group movie night - Edwin and Charles get absolutely no input in anything they watch, so they are at the complete mercy of what Crystal and Niko think that they need to watch. Both were surprised at how much Charles ended up LOVING Legally Blonde. 

After he finds out that Crystal got a girlfriend, Charles goes through a whole thing for a while about how he’s the “token straight friend”. Crystal, Niko, and Edwin are all just standing there like “....so who’s gonna tell him.” 

Edwin eventually tries to ban Crystal from eating in the office because he’s sick of hearing Charles complain about how jealous he is. If he hears about how much Charles misses spaghetti one more time then he’s banning Charles next

Edwin and Crystal have a deeply sibling-like relationship where they antagonize, torture, yell, and generally act like they hate each other but at the same time they would both absolutely fight, maim, kill, etc for each other. Charles had given up trying to meditate because he realized that fighting is actually their love language

Edwin also becomes a protective brother type for her where he is constantly making sure she's taking care of herself (eating, sleeping, etc) but acts like it is the biggest hindrance in the world. He berates Crystal endlessly when he realizes she hasn't eaten all day and complains about how much of an annoyance it'll be if she passes out on a case while simultaneously making her tea and a sandwich. He complains about how she relies on her powers too much on cases and tells her she needs to "actually learn to do some real detective work" and then conveniently leaves books around that will be helpful to learn more about the supernatural, casually explains certain things when she just happens to be in earshot, and just generally passive aggressively teaches her so that she'll be better protected and knowledgeable on cases

Both Edwin and Charles are opposed to “getting with the digital age”, as Crystal and Niko put it. They’ll borrow one of the girls’ laptops maybe every once in a blue moon and they will gladly watch movies and shows, and Charles does like the music access that stealing Crystal’s phone gives him, but there is no chance that they are bringing in all this digital tech to the agency. They’ve been working with pen and paper since they started and they are going to stay that way, thank you very much. The internet is too messy with everyone’s different opinions and theories to give them accurate research on what they don’t already know about the supernatural world, and honestly, ghosts and digital technology don’t actually mix super well. The Night Nurse is fully on their side, so any internet needs are kept to a minimum and are entirely the girls’ domain 

Charles is chaotic and ADHD but between the two of them, he's far more orderly about things. He has his magic bag organized to a T and is cleaning up after Edwin all the time when he leaves books lying about. It seems to entirely counteract his personality and for a long time Edwin just brushes it off as a little quirk, but after the Devlin house he finally learns that Charles keeps himself so neat and organized all the time because his dad would punish him when things were out of place

Edwin is surprisingly good with children. Charles never knows what to do with himself when interacting with a kid, but Edwin will crouch down to their level, speak to them normally rather than using any sort of baby talk, listen to them rant about their special interests, etc and just generally treat them like just Another Person in a way that has kids just immediately attaching to him like baby ducks. Edwin does not understand why kids seem to like him at all, and Charles just laughs when he asks, happy to simply sit back and watch the cutest interactions he's ever seen

Edwin and Niko have weekly "date" nights where they just hang out in her bedroom and watch shows (she's determined to get Edwin into at least one anime), chat, play go fish for hours on end, and things like that. It gives both of them a designated time to relax over the week and to catch up/gossip about things they haven't gotten a chance to tell each other yet. Crystal and Charles are absolutely Not Invited to these dates, a fact that both of them pretend to be outraged over

Charles is nearly always perfectly content with just remaining on earth and interacting with the living plane and never ever seeing any of the afterlife-associated locations/offices (Lost & Found, etc) but since finding out it exists, he is Determined to figure out how to get to the Dead Letter Office. He doesn't understand how it works or exists or how the postman always finds them and His Brain Needs To Know. So far he's bothered both the postman and the Night Nurse for information but both are way too cryptic/annoying to be of any help

Charles and Niko rarely end up alone together and are not as close as any of the other dynamics in the friend group, but that isn't to say they don't absolutely ADORE each other. They think that the other is just about the neatest person ever and when they do end up just the two of them, their mutual chaotic energies collide in a way where they either are absolutely brilliant and accidentally uncover something essential to a case or they just completely dissolve into hysterical laughter and can't get a thing done

[hey-there-22]

I don't think we talk enough about Edwin's reaction to Charles beating the Night Nurse. Because he's scared, he is worried and he is crying. But he is not scared of Charles at all, I think he is scared to lose him. Just in that episode, he had (unwillingly) told the Cat King that he helped other ghosts so he can defend his own case if Death ever came to take him to Hell again. He also says he is not proud about it, that it is selfish.

Charles would have gone to Heaven if he hadn't decided to stay with him. Edwin is sure. But, after what happened with the Night Nurse, he can't be sure anymore. He knows Charles, he knows he is a good man and he doesn't deserve to go to Hell. But he also knows Charles well enough to know he'll feel guilty. And that is how Hell gets you. Guilt drags to down.

I don't think Edwin was walking on eggshells around Charles as Crystal said. I think it just hurt him to see him, to face him, knowing that he may have selfishly made Charles lose his oportunity to go to pradise. Because he had stayed for him. Because he had been protecting him.

[ro-doodles]

I think this might be a little bit of a hot take, but I’ve seen a dead boy detectives headcanon a couple of times that Charles had a crush on or a relationship with the Pakistani boy he saved before he was killed, and I’m really not a fan of it. I understand why people like it, but I kind of feel like it takes away from the impact of Charles’ choice. I think it’s more meaningful and says more about Charles’ character if he saw a boy he barely knows being hurt and he stepped in just because it was wrong, not because of some personal connection he had. He saw a boy being beaten down for no reason other than the color of his skin, and saw himself. I like to think that Charles would always step in no matter who it was because that’s who he is, someone who stands up for people.

Anyways, thanks for indulging my rambling mini rant.

[marthajonesurastar]

a small pet peeve i have when reading dbda fics is when they call Edwin older or taller because, first of all, not only is he not taller, he's technically shorter, it's just that his boots and Charles' posture make him seem the same height and sometimes taller, but he's not.

it's only an inch or two, but he's shorter than Charles, not taller.

as for the "older" part yes, Edwin is older supernaturally speaking but i don't think hell should count, it's not like he was wandering around living his life as a ghost there, they have existed as ghosts on earth for the same amount of time. even their ages when they died, not only were they both sixteen, the number of months they lived after turning 16 are probably around the same, because Edwin is a January capricorn who died in either spring or early fall judging by their clothes, and Charles' birthday is in either April or May and he died in like late fall early winter so again, either the same amount (around six months) or Edwin died younger (~4 months).

anyway i just wanted to vent a little about something that's completely irrelevant.

[skylee-spider-lillis]

A conversation that didn't leave my head with @gali-in-distress. Credit to them for the idea-

I'm sorry what do you mean to tell me you think that Crystal seeing David every time while she's under a lot of stress or after going through something traumatic is a dissociation coping mechanism of her. She no longer has to be present or in control, and it's still something that hurts her deeply yeah but at least it means she doesn't have to be in the situation anymore.

What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck.

Leave me alone I need to cry on the floor about it for like a week.

[addie-your-queen]

i feel like at one point a client asks charles how long he and edwin have been together and charles happily replies with "35 years" and then the client asks how long ago they met and charles looks at them strangely before replying "....35 years" and now he's confused cause he thought that's what they were asking the first time.

[paraphwrites]

guys you can talk all you want about post-canon charles hating monty but lets be honest with ourselves. if monty were to return, edwin would ask charles to try to be kind, and like, he would try, for edwin. maybe he's not always perfect, but he would try. crystal on the other hand? she's got no such obligations. edwin wants her to be nice to the dude who betrayed her friend? she's not taking orders from a victorian twink. even once she gets past the initial anger (and that takes months) she still is constantly making passive agressive comments. "bye guys! monty, try not to betray us while i'm gone." charles brings up that she got a second chance, so he should to. she replies that she isn't a bird.

[majorlb]

Ghost HRT is just mind over matter.

Ghosts are made up out of the memories and feelings. Their bodies warp and change to reflect moods. (Edwins clothing reverts as soon as he's free of hell. Charles shirt gets darker the darker his mindstate is. Shelby twisting her features to appear scary.)

So.. if a ghost comes to the realization that they're trans, and they start feeling that they are a Man or a Woman, then their bodies change with that feeling. Features soften or sharpen, curves appear or disappear.

Non-binary ghosts change in between what they're feeling at the moment. Or they simply are blurry at the edges and refuse to conform to A Shape.

[read-write-thrive]

still thinking about ~~the cult of the ghost fuckers~~ so here’s some thoughts:

The Cult of the Ghost Fuckers aka a network of individuals who are into ghosts

majority are humans with near death experiences and/or magic but not entirely (let the monsters fuck us for once (especially since it’s harder to break a ghost) ANYWAY—)

they existed prior to the internet but really started getting connected on the og forums or whatever (I’m too young to know those details ykwim)

in this post I’m talking about the London chapter since that’s where the boys are but I figure it depends on population density and ghost density as to how big the chapter is (London has a lot of both so we get a bigger group! I’m not fleshing out any individuals so idk how many ppl that means but wtv)

right around 2000 the boys first run into one of them while dealing with a case

this individual isn’t involved with the case and so they don’t interact with the boys much but you best believe they went back to the group with that info

soon enough the group figures out a way to get the detective boys to show up (just had to find a ghost who knew them really)

the group debates over what to do with this info: suddenly there’s a place where they KNOW are at least two ghosts at all times ?!!!! this is HUGE and they do NOT want to fuck it up

cue several attempts to be subtle about it but they’re all clamouring for the boys and their various clients so none of it goes well

at some point one of them gets Charles alone and manages to woo him over for a night (do they have sex? do they just bond over xyz and the other person tells Charles about how the living and ghosts can have sex? who’s to say)

the attempts end when the boys find out about the organisation for one reason or another and Edwin does some magic stuff to bar any members from their office or something idk

HENCE when Charles says “it is possible” this is where he gets that from

AND when Edwin goes “if anything he just enjoys ghosts” at Monty this is why !! Monty isn’t a part of the cult (obv) so Edwin doesn’t think he’s someone to watch out for but Monty does meet the criteria for being a potential ghost fucker (aka able to see ghosts and flirts with one) so Edwin makes the natural conclusion (and he’s a little flattered that said ghost fucker was after him this time, and not Charles, hence the lil smirk with it yk) (yes this relies on Edwin recognising Monty as flirting but I don’t think he questioned that explicitly ? yeah the feelings thing was a miscommunication but iirc it wasn’t on that end of things, Edwin isn’t confused as to why Monty kissed him he just says he has a crunch on someone else)

eventually when the group is back together and solving cases the cult comes up and Crystal finds it hilarious

Niko immediately wants to know more (and probably takes the side of “why shouldn’t ghosts be able to have living partners?” Until the boys explain that the cult is a little extreme about their methods) so they also have to explain the magic whatever to make sure the girls don’t risk getting affiliated and then banned or forgotten or wtv

ik I said some of this before in some tags on someone else’s post but I’m in pain and can’t be bothered to find it so it gets its own post now :)