#the one where charles says edwin

[edwins-fangirl]

AU: CRYSTAL & CHARLES’ WEDDING

Niko (officiant): Repeat after me ‘I Crystal take the Charles to be my lawfully wedded husband in sickness till death parts us’

Crystal (bride): *repeats it*

Niko: Now Charles, repeat after me ‘I Charles’

Charles: I Charles…

Niko: ‘Take the Crystal’

Charles (groom): Take the Edwin

Crowd and Crystal: *gasps*

Charles: Crystal

Charles: *laughs nervously* Crystal

Edwin *to person in front of him*: He said Edwin right? You think I should go up there?

[theworldisabrokenbonebutitishome]

insp.

[idontknowwhatimdoing-13]

Hey what if I was Orpheus and you were Eurydice, you know from the tragic romantic love story, and I literally went to hell to rescue you but I don’t care about the tragic ending of their story because when I looked back it was because you grabbed me and told me to listen and I did, and I still promise I am going to rescue you and we are going to stay together forever.

Oh and I’m Charles Rowland and I don’t actually think I’m in love with you but you are the only one I’d do the whole going to hell thing for btw

[danandfuckingjonlmao]

so this is why you dressed up nice today like fuck off

[bumblydumbly]

insane how people act like charles is ‘the jealous one’ like edwin didnt spend the whole first episode screaming crying throwing up every time charles looked at crystal and not him

[atariakana]

🎉The Dead Boy Detectives fandom has reached 1,000 fics on AO3!🎉

Let's celebrate! Rec a fic/some fics you loved in the notes of this post! I'll go first:

A Heaven Like They Talk About by @likemmmcookies

Pairing: Edwin/Charles | Rating: Mature | Word Count: 30,847 | Complete? Yes

A very very sweet fic in which Edwin and Charles temporarily have mortal bodies again. It's got a really interesting case, a lot of newly-alive shenanigans, and an emotional punch that I'm still feeling several days later (but don't worry, it's a happy ending). Can't recommend this enough!

2. To the Boy I Wish I'd Never Loved by @countloser

Pairing: Edwin/Cat King | Rating: Explicit | Word Count: 38,153 | Complete? No

Boarding school au with suuuuper fun Cat King/Edwin characterization. The central romance plot unfolds in a very intriguing way, accompanied by sweet boarding school shenanigans featuring the whole gang. I'm on tenterhooks waiting in between updates for this fic, it's one of my faves out there!

3. Dance the Night by Gruoch on AO3

Pairing: Edwin/Charles | Rating: Teen | Word Count: 42,671 | Complete? No

A very fun casefic with some brilliant development of Edwin and Crystal's friendship. I am eating this fic up, the characterization is so good--I've read Gruoch's fics in other fandoms, and trust me you are always safe in their capable hands. Lovers of creature lore, you should give this one a try.

Of course I have read many many more lovely fics since I first watched the show, but alas I do not have the time and space to list them all. But with over 1,000 already (1,049 last time I checked), I'm sure I missed some! So play along and rec your favs* :D (was this a ploy to get people to rec me fics? perhaps. but i think it will spread positivity also, so it's not all selfish ;))

* you do not need to get fancy with the formatting like I did, I'm just incapable of doing anything by halves. Title/author is enough :))

[galacticlamps]

actually wait

hierarchy of queer relationships but POV you're Edwin Payne

(original)

[montypng]

watched dead boy detectives recently and the show has been simmering in my brain in the most frustrating way. like its not bad its not a bad show. but for all the elements where i was like YES!! YES!!! i also thought i could have done this better. AUUGHH!!!!!!! AUGHH

[edwinisms]

op this is how you make a lich. what have you done

This may be too supernatural for an actually pretty down to earth show that is dbda (when it comes to magic, abilities and power scaling), but I'd have a blast seeing the plot point of Edwin's soul's capability to be used for obtaining magical power make a comeback

What would be even cooler is if it was Edwin himself who became interested in using that power

I can see him researching what devices can be used for it, do they have to always inflict pain on him to work and if yes, then how far is he willing to go in order to get it

He'd never use it for any malicious purposes or to just possess power for power's sake, he'd use it in extremely dire situations, when he really needs a certain spell to be amplified in order to rescue Charles from danger

Which brings me to the obvious angst potential of Edwin hiding the pain, lying about the source of the amazing power and then ofc Charles finding out and oh

(It'd introduce more magic and actual combat power for the boys - which is actually the opposite of what the show is about, I know, aside from a wild use of Crystal's vast abilities, they really make a good job at showing that the boys were just normal humans (and now ghosts) who predominantly use their wits and knowledge gathered throughout the many years of being on Earth, so I wouldn't even expect them to go this direction (if they actually mention Edwin's soul's power ever again), but it's just a very fun concept to me)

[diangelodork]

as someone who is a huge fan of other queer content (like heartstopper and red, white and royal blue), dead boy detectives feels so incredibly different.

despite how much i love those two, they don’t feel like they’re made for queer people.

in a lot of ways, they feel like media made for cishet people about queer and trans people which is fine and doesn’t make it unenjoyable, but dbda has a totally different feel to it.

it feels like queer media made FOR queer people.

they have so much nuance to their characters and don’t shy away from it. charles openly flirts with both edwin and crystal despite the fact that he never says anything about his sexuality and edwin’s backstory doesn’t try to hide the horrifying way that queer people were treated historically and i think that’s really important.

though he is very clearly repressed, he is still unapologetically queer. he showcases his jealousy loudly and there is no doubt in the viewer’s mind that he is queer even for a moment.

same with monty and the cat king. they’re so vibrantly and boldly queer. monty begins flirting with edwin nearly the moment we see him and as does tck. what i really appreciate about tck is his gender nonconformity. i think that’s so important and i honestly really appreciate that they don’t even mention it.

with tck in particular, his actions can be considered rather predatory, but we never really feel like that’s due to his queerness which is FASCINATING because that is a really harmful stereotype of queer people, but it never feels like that’s what they’re going for or like they’re using it to demonize queerness.

with jenny, she says so casually that she’s attracted to women and it’s not even something that they have to discuss again. it’s such an unimportant aspect of her character, but it’s still so unabashedly there. i love that niko doesn’t even say anything about it when she learns, she just accepts her, no questions asked.

even with simon, he very clearly discusses his sexuality in E7 when he tells edwin that he liked him, but he never has to say the words. we just KNOW contextually because he talks around it. he i would argue that he is the only instance of a character discussing shame in their identity and it immediately results in one of the loveliest quotes in the show.

“if you punish yourself, everywhere becomes hell.”

he has spent over a century repressing himself and when he finally tells edwin, the boy he liked and treated terribly because of it, he is immediately told that it is not torture to be queer. he is immediately told that there is nothing wrong with his sexuality.

the confession scene btwn edwin and charles in E7 and the scene in E6 where edwin is TRYING to confess are so fucking important to me. nearly immediately, charles tells edwin that it doesn’t make any difference that he’s queer and that he accepts him. when he does confess, he doesn’t make him feel bad for it. he tells him that he loves him too, but that he can’t say he does in that way right now, but that he’s the most important person in his life and that that will never change.

the scene in E7 where they’re on the roof and edwin tries to apologize for potentially having made things awkward, charles shuts it down immediately. he says “it doesn’t.” and that’s the end of it.

this show exemplifies queerness through a queer light and it’s very clear who the intended audience is for dbda not to sound like i’m hating on the first two pieces of media (rwrb is literally one of my special interests, trust me, i adore them both), but maybe that’s why hs was given a third season and dbda was cancelled within five months of airing. i feel that these two pander to straight people in a lot of ways, but dbda doesn’t. it’s something that is incredibly important to me and i’m really happy about it.

[asidian]

One thing I adore about Dead Boy Detectives is how brilliant the first ten minutes are. The pacing is incredible. You meet the boys, learn who they are, get a peek at what they want, and are shown what their strengths and weaknesses are.

Straight out the gate, you know that Charles is impulsive and more physically protective, and that Edwin is more intellectual and prone to magic. You learn magic exists and this is a setting where an infinite backpack can happen. Edwin gets a chance to show off his deductive skills with their client, and Charles gets to show off his people skills with both the client and the WWI ghost. Six minutes in and we already know these characters.

You learn that this is how these characters function together, and that they know each other well enough to know each others' strengths and weaknesses and rely on each other and compensate for them, respectively. The pacing is lively and attention-grabbing, and the back-and-forth between the office and the scene while they're on the job allows a fantastic showcase of the contrast between how they work together in different situations.

Then we get a look at the deeper need that motivates our two ghosts: staying together, against all odds, even after death, even in the face of Death herself.

And then we segue into another brilliant bit of exposition. Instead of a long, stodgy talking scene that would slow down the pacing, we get shown slices of Crystal acting strangely to explain what's going on.

In the space of ten minutes, we have met our characters, know what drives them, know their status quo, and are ready for that status quo to be upended, all without a single exposition dump.

No wonder this series series was met with critical acclaim. This is brilliant character writing and pacing. I write for a living, and this intro scene had me turning to the person next to me, saying, "THAT'S how you do it."

There's so much to appreciate about Dead Boy Detectives, but I feel like the script doesn't get anywhere near enough attention. Standing ovation for the absolutely brilliant writing, honestly.

[ask-geralt]

Genuinely, hand over heart I don't know how I missed this, but on my most recent rewatch of season 1 I realized that, in episode 5, when Crystal says "I guess all three of us lost our lives to boys who went too far," she is NOT REFERRING TO HER, CHARLES, AND EDWIN. SHE'S TALKING ABOUT HER, MAREN, AND SHELBY. BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T KNOW THE DETAILS OF HOW EDWIN AND CHARLES DIED. I feel so dumb like I was always a bit confused about it before now like "That's nice, real raw line, I do like it, but wtf does that have to do with what you guys were just talking about??" Now I want to write a lil one-shot where Edwin and/or Charles are just like "That makes five of us, actually," for some sweet shared trauma bonding lol

[coloursflyaway]

Consider this: Charles treating falling in love with Edwin like an adventure.

Charles purposefully watching Edwin in his normal day-to-day so he can find the moments where he feels something more, taking Edwin on walks so they can talk about their feelings and hopes and expectations, trying to be closer physically as well as emotionally.

Charles being giddy and excited and overjoyed when he looks at Edwin one day and feels his heart seizing up, and having to tell Edwin about it immediately, because isn't this great? He couldn't say he was in love with Edwin back on the stairway to hell, but he's getting closer every day.

Charles wanting to fall in love with Edwin with the earnest intensity of someone who has loved Edwin in every other way for three decades.

And Edwin, who considered his feelings for Charles an affliction he should apologise for, watching this ray of human sunshine being absolutely overjoyed by slowly reciprocating his feelings and the opportunity to love him back.

[alexwilltellyouthings]

Something something about how the Devlin case was the catalyst for Charles' trauma response, with the loop and people being brutally murdered over and over again

And later in Hell, Charles seeing exactly how Edwin was brutally murdered over and over again

When Crystal felt sick saying "those women have been living the worst moment of their lives over and over for 30 years?" and how Edwin was in fact the only one who knew how it felt

I don't know where I'm going with this I'm just feeling things.

[pippin-katz]

Why Did Charles Keep Asking About Edwin's Conversation With The Cat King?

I was reading a fic where Edwin agrees to the Cat King's initial offer, but because time passes differently in whatever room that is, he's gone for six weeks even though it was a couple hours for him, and it got me thinking. I worked out why Charles was so pushy about that conversation.

Charles and Edwin have been together for 30 years. The way they act gives me the feeling that they spent very little time apart, and wherever one went, the other went too. In the fic, Edwin's inner monologue refers to it as "shared memories"; they experience everything together.

But now, there's this.

Edwin disappeared for hours on Charles' side of things. He had this conversation with a magical being, a stranger that sets off warning bells in Charles' head. He came back with a magical bracelet that trapped him in Port Townsend, that he couldn't remove, and something about his behavior was off.

Charles is not stupid or oblivious. He reads Edwin like a book, albeit with blurry text. He knows something is not quite right, but doesn't know what. And he knows it's because of whatever happened in the few hours that he wasn't with him.

For what is likely the first time in 30 years, Edwin has experienced/done something significant without him. Charles is in the dark; he wasn't there to see or hear what happened for himself. All he has to go on is what Edwin tells him, and he gets the immediate feeling that he's not saying everything.

When talking about it in front of Crystal, he just asks if he said anything else, but once they're alone in their office, he's direct.

Charles is absolutely (and correctly) sure that Edwin hasn't told him the real/full truth about his meeting with the Cat King, and tells him as much.

The way he asks feels... calm? Crystal's not there, they're alone, they're in their safe space, why wouldn't Edwin tell him? He probably thinks he would, but obviously, he doesn't. He lets a detail slip that confuses and concerns him even more; the Cat King whispering in his ear. That confirms very close proximity between them, something that's potentially dangerous and something he knows Edwin doesn't particularly like, and Charles is just... lost, uncomfortable, and frustrated.

Can you imagine how maddening that must have been? To not know what really happened? To only have vague descriptions of the events from his friend? To see and know that something is wrong with him, but being unable to truly help because he's clueless as to what the actual problem is?

It's highly likely that this is the first time Charles has ever encountered this.

As Edwin says, he's "fixated" on this. It's like there's a page missing in his copy of the script of events. He's never had to worry about it before; he was always there with him. Edwin says it's not a big deal, but Charles can't make that call himself. It's not that he doesn't trust Edwin; it's his protectiveness of him. He wants to see and assess the situation for himself. He wants to be positive there's no danger, that it meets his standards. He needs to know everything about where Edwin is, what he's doing, who he's with, at all times, so he can be ready to protect him.

As Jayden put it, Charles has given himself the mantle of Edwin's guardian. Edwin dedicates all his time and energy into helping others, to the point of neglecting himself. In response, Charles dedicates himself to Edwin. If he won't take care of himself, if no one else is going to help him, Charles will. As he says in Hell when he's rescuing Edwin, "Someone's gotta do it."

(ko-fi)