Charles Dead Boy Detectives - Blog Posts

🎵 maybe it will did turn out this time on the road to hell, on the railroad line 🎵

What if I was a repressed gay ghost from 1916 and I confessed my love for you on the Stairway To Hell™️ and you made an Orpheus and Eurydice reference and you admitted you're not in love with me back but a secret third thing (so devoted the lines blur) and told me we had an eternity to figure out what that means for us and that we're still best mates just like we've been for the last 30+ years. What if I was Edwin Payne and you were Charles Rowland. What then.

Just finished EP 5 of dead boy detective and

AHHHHHHHHH the feels I can't 😭😭😭😭

Charles and Edwins talk at the end is just to much there so cute and sad it just this show is throwing me through loops

Edwins and Montys meet at the end Edwin that was brutal

I wanna be sillies.

Hello dead boy detectives fandom! Let's do something fun again.

Sorry for the last few, I didn't have enough space for everyone so I had to group a few characters.

I might be controversial, I know a lot of people don't like it, but in my opinion Crystal dresses the best 💜💜🖤. Post amnesia Crystal too. Her outfits are loud and weird but that's what I like about them.

Bravo if anyone picked any of the last 3 options! Interesting choices👏👏👏.

Hey hey, Tumblr.

Pssst pssst pssst

Charles worshipping Edwin's scars.

I wish there were more fics that focused on them having physical scarring. Because there are so many interesting stuff we can do with it.

The insecurity, the trust you need for showing them.

And we already know Charles adores Edwin's flaws. He doesn't just accept them, he loves Edwin's flaws- him being bitchy and mean is genuinely a flaw and Charles loves that about him.

Charles would've loved kissing all of Edwin's scars👀 maybe scars from hell, or scars from being tied up.

He would've loved staring at him with heart eyes thinking he's the most perfect thing ever.

It doesn't have to be sexual, I just want them adoring each other's form. Loving each other's flaws and everything. Because they would. They would adore each other's flaws.

So. Just saying.

Living this out in the air.

If anyone wants to write that....

Please @ me.

On one hand, I love Crystal my girl and she deserves to appear in my case fic.

On the other hand, if I'd let her appear she would've defeated the villains in 2 seconds and take away all of my excuse for angst and Charles gay panicking over Edwin fencing, and then I'd have no plot.

I'm sorry my girl, you're simply too much the goat for this I'm afraid. I can't let you appear.

We can't always win.

Haven't posted in a while because sessional depression is no joke, but posted a new fic!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/62805880

Fluffy chorb one shot, Charles exhausted himself on a case and Edwin lectures him a bit :)

But he can never stay mad at Charles for long.

Under 1,000 words. Just a bit of domestic fluff for your heart.

Doing this

I'm so good at decisions you guys

Simon and Esther makes me feel.... Mixed feelings.

But I love most characters in the show, it's really hard to hate when so many of them are written so beautifully.

(this cop I'll hate any day though, idc. Acab. She's bad at her job).

Anyway

I hope you all will have a great year!

Keep screaming and keep shouting about our beloved show🗣️

No matter what will happen, Netflix needs to know how pissed we are.

1, 5, 7, 15 for the dbda ask game :)

Thank you so much for submitting these questions!

1. My favourite character

It's Charles. Yeah it's very obvious from my profile picture, I'm a Charles fan all the way.

The moment I met him in the show/ trailer I got possessed. I knew he was going to be my favourite character and I was right. Also I'm in love(/nsrs. Well, okay, maybe a bit, but mostly not!) with Jayden Revri. God the eyes of this boy. And his face. And his everything.

Yeah Charles is very much my favourite.

After him probably Edwin Crystal and Jenny, with no particular order. I can't decide.

I'm extremely obsessed with Edwin as well, although he is vastly different from my usual type of characters, because a fencer (in my heart, George also confirmed! And I relate to him on that) + he's not afraid to be bitchy and he's so iconic and so many others stuff that surprised me about him. I love him.

Also Crystal. My love. My girl. Complex female characters my beloved.

And Jenny is an icon. What else can I say?

5. Character I relate to the most.

Well, it's Charles. Sorry the answer is clear cut lol.

His situation with his parents reminds me of my own a lot (unfortunately). I relate to him on so many deep and emotional levels. Some of the episodes hit me strong. I thought 3 was going to be the peak where we get to see his trauma although it's not a lot, and then episode 4 hit me like a train. Episode 5 (especially the end) has my heart.

I relate to Charles on so many levels.

I also relate to Crystal a lot, her journey is relatable. I feel her.

She's just as messy and complicated as anyone else in there, I get her.

7. Favourite headcanon from the fandom

Demiromantic Charles! I talked about it before and also tagged the post I saw it in that explains it really well. I love this. I wish I saw more fanfics exploring this.

Also I wish I saw more gender queer Charles Rowland.

But mostly demi Charles. I can't think of any other hc I saw I really like yet.

15. My favourite line

There are many, many, hilarious lines I dearly love. But I am going to go with an angsty pick, I think the line that broke me the most was a line Charles said in episode 1 I didn't see anyone talking about I think holds a major part of his character- "you are the smart one, and I'm the one that does shit like this." It deeply hurt me.

Let's talk about it for a moment, shall we?

Because Charles is smart. Many times he finds the solutions to their cases, Edwin often praises him for his brilliant mind and George himself said in a cameo only people he thinks truly deserves it- a compliment from Edwin is the highest compliment ever.

Charles is smart.

But he sees himself as this reckless, foolish, charicaristic. This sentence comes from so much self hatred. When things get complicated we see him turn again into the aggressive image he has of himself. He sees himself as waste. He holds Edwin at the highest place ever in his eyes "you are the smart one, you are better than this, you are better than me, don't step to my level I'm trash you are so much more I will do it for you" and it just hurts me how much he throws himself away in the process.

Seeing this line again in a rewatch and realise it definitely was a stab to the chest, now that it's known how much he hates himself.

I wish we talked about episode 1 more, it's a great episode that sets out so many important stuff for the rest of the show. We just skip over it because so much happened so quickly but there are so much stuff we need to unpack there.

Now that I'm finished with my fencing fic, which fic should I write next?

Idk mates I'm mostly going out with a vibe but I'm curious to see Tumblr's preference. I have like 20 fics ideas, this is just what I feel like the most right now.

My brain is so obsessed with the Payneland fencing fic I wrote and I just need to share it-

I feel like I nailed Edwin's cuntiness really well I'm proud of it.

My brain is just obsessed with this, those parts live in my brain 24/7 really.

Anyway here's the link if anyone's interested!

I have already posted a snippet and a description in my blog, I just had to talk about these parts too because holy god they're killing me. I love Edwin being a bitch and Charles loving Edwin for being a bitch thinking his best mate is like the best person ever with such heart eyes.

Charles my baby boy just admit it you fell over your head already (...he does admit it at the end in my fic).

Anyway I'm obsessed and I just had to share it. Do with that information as you will!

Wayyyy later than what I expected to finish, I'm finally finished with my Payneland fencing fic! Thank you so much to everybody that offered themselves as my beta, I really appreciate that!

Relationships: Edwin Payne/Charles Rowland, Edwin Payne & Charles Rowland (the fic focus on their friendship specifically, the romance is just an ending bonus).

Rating: gen

Trigger warnings: blades/ fencing, dysfunctional gays, Charles that's so fucking gay you cannot say that to your platonic best friend,

Other stuff: fencer Edwin Payne, touch starved Charles & touch starved Edwin if you squint, love confession, hurt/comfort, eventual cuddling, teens being teens, slight miscommunication the first half of the fic, okay they're really miscommunicating at the start but it gets better don't worry!

Link to the snippet

Edwin and Charles' friendship come first before anything else, before any romantic feelings ever even started. This is why when shortly after Port Townsend when Charles is starting to act off and Edwin feels it's because of his confession affecting them, although Charles is denying the accusation, he confronts Charles to talk with him again the way they do things: He makes him fence with him.

And Charles can never tell Edwin no, is he? Or: Charles tried to isolate himself away from Edwin, Edwin couldn't let that stand. The boys being teenagers and fooling around fencing.

Based on my fencing history so I actually come with knowledge about that! I kinda took advantage of that for creating this fic.

I hope you'll like it! I really enjoyed writing it. Charles is my favourite out of them but damn fencer Edwin is ruining my brain.

Unfortunately I will not be able to finish the payneland fic I wanted on time to publish it on my birthday, however I will publish a snippet for now!

It's a fencing fic, because I'm a fencer Edwin truther, and the boys 100% fence as a game between them so my fic is based about that. Edwin tries to suggest fencing to talk about things and resolve the awkwardness that started between them after the love confession. It's not very long after Port Townsend.

I'm going to try to continue working on it to finish it on time but I'm at a bar on the beach that has loud distracting music to celebrate my birthday, I can't make any promises. However I will publish it tomorrow. Here is the snippet for now!

Charles was sitting on the desk, his legs on the chair, staring vacantly out of a window for the past few hours.

Edwin, who was reading a book on the sofa, eventually had enough of this new awkward distance between them and snapped, deciding he was going to do something about it, shake Charles out of it in any way he could.

.......

He tossed Charles his foil- a golden one with a left handed handle. Edwin’s foil was silver, matching Charles’ set. “Pick it up, we are going to fence.” He declared.

“What?” Charles looks up, shaking off from his thoughts and turned to his best friend, blinking surprised.

“I said, pick it up, we are going to fence. Frankly, I've had enough of your distant behaviour recently and I cannot let it pass any second longer. You cannot fool me, Charles Rowland, I know you, and after Port Townsend you have never made the return quite to your senses yet. So we are going to fence, and we are going to talk, in the way we do things. Because clearly something has gone wrong with you recently you refuse to let me in about.”

“Mate, there is nothing wro-” Charles started making himself force out a laugh in defence, but Edwin cut him.

“I have simply confessed to being in love, Charles, I have not been turned into a fool in all that regards you. I have known you for over 30 years, Charles Rowland, and I can tell when things are wrong. Yet you don’t come to me, although you are clearly bothered by me. Sometimes, I have to wonder if you still consider us best friends after all-” his voice break, trailing off.

“What? Mate, of course you are-” Charles rushed to defend against Edwin's words.

“Then talk with me, Charles. Fence with me, like we used to. Because I miss having my best friend around, and I don’t know what to think of you recently. Talk to me, please.” Edwin moves Charles’ foil on the desk closer to him, offering it to him again.

Charles took a few moments of thinking in silence before he responded again. They could fence, he supposes, he did miss them too, but- “Look, Edwin, mate, I don’t want to fight you- You are still pretty banged up from Esther’s house.” Not a lie, they both still had some traces of their iron burns. Esther’s house was still relatively fresh- they tried to bury it but the events of Port Townsend only took place twelve days ago.

Unfortunately, iron burns take an annoying amount of time to heal. Although not as bad now, slight traces of their burns still left.

They have been taking cases slower because of it, working on easy ones to start. Both of them acting more out of concern for the other than actually to themselves.

“Oh, you assume you would be able to get close to me?” Edwin teased arching his brow and Charles bit his lips, cheeks flushing slightly. Bollocks. Okay, his self confidence was hot-

Seeing him announcing it cockily and sure of himself like that ignited a fond and playful spark in Charles- he liked his overconfidence.

“I assure you, even in my lesser state I can still, as I believe they say today, ‘kick your ass’. You, on the other hand, have been shutting off from me for weeks, and I simply will not sit here and allow our friendship to continue suffering any longer. So please, fence with me again. Challenge me, if you will.”

“Edwin-” Charles gruntle sighing pretending to be rolling his eyes in decline, then he quickly picks up his foil going out to a surprise attack, a spark of mischief igniting back in him.

Adrenaline was flooding his ghost veins, in a good way-

He loved this. This was them. It just felt right.

Edit: fic posted! It's the most recent post below the pinned one on my blog!

This is a low shot, but can someone beta my dead boy detectives fic? (Painland fic, it was supposed to be focused on Charles but I also drifted a bit with Edwin's pov on him)

My beta coincidentally can't right now for reason I'm very much amused by, I just really want to post the fic sometimes during tomorrow (the day starts soon in my country) *on my birthday*(!!!!) so I want to finish it fast.

It's not finished right now but it's mostly done and I will love to get some advices, I'll finish it first thing tomorrow probably if I can.

Edit: it's just with 3,951 words now, after I'll finish though it will probably be a few hundreds passed 5,000 so there is that too. It's not an extremely long fic, it's a relatively short one really.

Edit 2/ Update: posted a snippet!

Rip Charles Rowland we will never get to see you make Edwin a flustered mess.

Rip Charles Rowland we will never get to see you become a flustered mess yourself when you try making Edwin become a flustered mess.

Rip Edwin Payne we will never get to see you flirting back when you are more comfortable with your sexuality now and turning Charles into a flustered mess back.

Rip Charles Rowland we will never get to see you exploring your sexuality and realising you love Edwin.

Rip payneland we will never get to see you getting together.

Rip Crystal Palace we will never know how you will react to the two old-people-love-sick-teenagers Edwin and Charles.

This is the "nah I'm not going anywhere. Netflix might think the story ends there but I am laughing behind their back, I will continue being active in this fandom no matter what the show's fate shall be, because letting that die would be the worst death of them all." post.

You want us to be hurt and broken about it? Well we are. We are devastated. Life sucks.

But we will not let this be just a story of tragedy and end there, let us be forgotten over time, we won't be having it! We are going to fill the cracks of the shattered pieces with our light!

Reblog to agree if you're also gonna stay and spread light.

Finally finished the fic I have been working on for the last few months! (My autistic Edwin fic!) It accidentally took me longer than what I planned.

Listen I don't think you can guess my favourite dead boy detectives character it's really difficult.

I have more ideas but those are the ideas I think I can focus on for now.

I am not sure if the winning result would be what I will actually finish first actually but I am curious to see what is the tumblr demand.

I have procrastinated making this post for so longgg

I haven't seen anyone mentioning it yet??

I know it's also a common symbol pin, but Charles' smiley pin looks like a reference to Death's smiley pin she wears in 'Death: The High Cost of Living' to me.

Come on- it's a bit different but still both have relatively similar long black coats with a smiley pin.

It makes a lot of sense, there is a lot of similarity between Charles and Death. They are both the comforters, it's a pretty big part of who they are. They dedicate their life for others' sake, generally such a smiley person but they are also ready to defend and be fierce; they have so much love to give to the world and they try to express it by always wearing a smile.

Death would have loved Charles. They are so similar at their core and would actually get along great.

I know it might sound like a bit of a stretch but I think it's pretty reasonable.

(GEORGE REXTREW REMEMBERED MY NAME WHAT??)

I love his answers of my questions. I love this characters so much I love everything about it.

Can the people of Tumblr try to use their obsessive internet skills and find the film he was talking about it was taken from?👀

(Aaaaaaaaa he wished me a happy birthday! I'm literally mind blown by the fact he remembered my name, I have sent this a couple of days apart he probably gets so many requests I'm in shock people- George Rextrew remembered me- (jesus hold your autism together Skylie). I have literally sent it just today after I got my first cameo and got it an hour later when I was just preparing to post my first cameo on tumblr. This man is a fucking demon wtf).

I have put the last cameo I got on queue because I didn't want to post it all at once so it will also be posted soon! The one before that if you are curious.

Charles Rowland doesn't have anger issues. Charles Rowland just has trauma.

Goodbye y'all and good day.

If Charles and Edwin weren't ghosts what other supernatural creatures do you think they'd be

I think Charles would either be a werewolf or a vampire and I think Edwin would be a siren because he managed to seduce four men without even trying

Sorry for taking time to respond, I debated on answering that.

Using this ask to answer this question myself.

I personally don't agree. Edwin is more than his sexuality for me. Personally it feels reductive to me just perceived his character all about his sexuality like that, George said so himself Edwin's journey was so much more than just sexual awakening they were careful writing Edwin they wanted to show it's so much more than just the sexual part.

I personally think it would way funnier if he will be just some random fantasy creature with accidental powers of attraction, and he has no idea how that's happening. Or just like in the show randomly attracting creatures without any actual reason and has no idea how this shit keeps happening to him everyone are sure he's a siren or that he has seductive powers but he's just some random guy.

Regarding to what he would be, I want to call him a fairy for funsies but as a serious answer I would say he would be an elf. Not sure if they have elves but they have fairies and all sort of other fantasy magical creatures so far so why not.

Regarding to Charles, sorry I'm a bit uncomfortable with your answer as well. I feel like making the poc character a creature known for animalistic feral behaviour is stereotypical and harmful to brown people. Jayden is part black, making the black character/actor of the group the animalistic creature makes me feel uneasy, it's a bit problematic. Especially that it's European folklore, if anything animalistic he would be something from Indian or Jamaican folklore.

And I don't feel like those creatures are a good choice for him anyway. Werewolves and vampires are often known for being feral and intense and hard to control, but I don't feel like it's Charles. To me it feels like saying Charles is just his strong emotions and intense behaviour that are directly caused by his trauma. He was obviously at his darkest point when he beat the Night Nurse (and he justifiedly did so), but that's not necessarily his true self. He's so much more than just his trauma and I don't want to reduce him to behaviour that happened at his lowest point.

Charles doesn't have anger issues or intense behaviour, he's just traumatized kid and he let's his emotions out.

I know, in society that teaches boys to repress any emotional vulnerability it's a real shocker. But Charles is really just a sweet broken boy in my eyes. He's a very gentle and loving person.

Even though wolves are protective, they're still very possessive and known for being feral, rough, aggressive. I don't feel like it's Charles he's not that wild.

Honestly, I don't know what he would be. A fairy possibly? A nephilim (descendant of angels or something angelic whatsoever)? Maybe a dream? Like one of the dreams from Dream of the Endless realm. And then going rouge with Edwin. Maybe also an elf? He could be a lot of stuff.

Anyway yeah, sorry about that, I just had a lot of thoughts about that subject I wanted to express.

Of course anyone can have any opinion they want, unless it's directly harmful there's no right and wrong in holding opinions, I just explained why personally I feel a bit uncomfortable agreeing with those choices and I hc other stuff instead myself. It's all just personal opinions, how I perceive the characters myself since you sent me that ask probably asking for my opinion. Hope that helps!

Edit: damn I didn't notice how long it turned out sorry about that.

5, 8 for Charles, and 20 !

(aaaa sorry for taking time to answer I was trying to take a break from tumblr because I've become too addicted. I love getting asks please send me more if you'd like!)

5. The Devilin house.

I've talked about this before.

Getting to see those glimpses of Charles's trauma hurt me emotionally I connect to him so much.

I also love some things other people pointed out-

How there didn't turned out to be a supernatural cause for the murders at the end- the father was just insane, because the world is fucked up and they're not hiding from it throwing a big scary monster putting the blame on other causes like other shows.

I took it so for granted, yeah of course they won't shy away from showing real horrors and won't blame it on fantasy, it took me other people pointing it out to realise yeah other shows won't be like that.

And also how the problems weren't solved with violence, they never are in this show.

One thing the episode showed is that the circle of abuse is real. Answering fire with fire won't solve shit.

I didn't even caught that until other people pointed it out. It's another thing I greatly appreciate about this show.

To deal with your shit you can't do it alone, you have to lean on other people otherwise you'd just fall back again like Charles did. You have to let people in. Despite his dislike for her Edwin listened to Crystal and that's how they got out. He had to deal with crap, with his weakness- technology, if he wanted to get out it couldn't just be easy.

The episode captured all of that well, it captured the cycle of abuse phenomenally so yeah I love this case.

Damn that was long.

8. I have already answered Charles twice ((1)) ((2)), the second time I really elaborated on all my hcs for him, I think I forgot colour blind Charles but yes that's about it. Sorry I just answered it twice and I'm tired 8 have nothing else to add beyond what I already said. So go check that posts!

20. The (dead)boys. Nothing makes my heart giggle and laugh like seeing the boys acting like a dead married couple on acid.

The dynamic of the characters are so great I love the main squad.

Also seeing the cat king being the pathetic lover boy that he is in episode 7 (love him. That scene was great).

I wish I was joking saying this. Unfortunately I'm way too tired for any nonsense.

Dear dead boy detectives, I would really like my ability to sleep back. This is a genuine request.

I have been literally laying in bed after closing my eyes out tiredness for hours, yet I have yet to fall asleep. Instead the dead boy detectives have filled my every thought the entire time. I have been stuck in a state not being able to fall asleep thinking about them for literal hours (gay) straight without realising how long has passed.

You have taken my ability to sleep hostage, I kindly ask of you to return it. I have job tomorrow and I need to sleep.

Turns out Charles' cross earring is not really a cross?

I don't know if anyone noticed if it was obvious I just always thought it was a cross (maybe because I never wear my glasses lol).

I have been looking at Charles' photos to get a better look at his cross earring for cosplay purposes and then I discovered it's not a cross at all-

(yeah tumblr's quality is not the best but if you will find a high quality photos you can see it better, it's clearly not a cross).

It looks like some kind of a four- pointed star with elongated lower point? What sure as hell it doesn't look like a cross to me.

Does anyone know this symbol and what it means?

It makes a lot more sense for his character it's not a cross actually, I don't really see him as the cross wearing type personally.

Don't get me wrong, I love painland because they're the land of pain payneland dearly & I'm currently writing *multiple* fics about them.

But if I hear one more person saying shit about Crystal and saying she was gross for what she had with Charles I'll fucking scream.

#8 Headcanons for Charles? ╰(⸝⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝⸝)╯

Sorry for taking time to answer!

Ohhhh. Charles my love!

Well this aren't my personal headcanons but they're one that I adopted.

Well demiromantic Charles, I talked about this before and I think this posts explains it pretty well and I completely support it.

Also using suspenders as a replacement for belts because belts reminds him of his dad.

ADHD Charles! Oh I love this ADHD messy boy and I resonate with him so much.

Also dyslexic Charles!

I think those hcs makes the fact that he and Edwin has their thing where Edwin is reading him stories even cuter.

I totally see how no matter how hard he tried to overcome his disabilities he was never good enough which made his home life more difficult (projecting? Whattt).

Oblivious bisexual Charles rights. Not really a hc but yeah, that boy is dumb he's just completely oblivious in the moment he just never considered that because of the heteronormative society he was raised in, it just never crossed his mind. I'm a full believer he's just slow in understanding stuff and he wants to take things slow with Edwin.

He's screaming bisexual we all in the fandom clocked him right away it's nothing special really. We all know he's bi. That's a bisexual disaster if I have ever seen one. (Emphasis on the disaster).

Also, Charles kept the lantern from when Edwin found him! And that was the lantern he used when he went back to hell. And another detail I didn't see anyone talking about he also kept the book Edwin read to him without he knew. Actually he kept following the next books coming out in this series.

I also love any type of hc that gives him any artistic hobby- artist, dancer, or anything really, any reason that he didn't fit the stereotypical masculine gender roles, and made him even a larger disappointment in his dad's eyes. Anything that made it harder for him. I'm a slut for angst what can I say. (Like I'm a Charles Rowland kinny it's pretty much obvious).

This is pretty much it I think!

Mostly I just love the work the show did with him. I don't feel like large and elaborate headcanons are needed him- the canon is already amazing. I just love some small pieces that gives even more depth to the canon lore.

This show is so good I don't need really big headcanons. I don't think I can top the canon.

I love people sending me asks! Pease send my more if you have any🫶

I know Charles is obviously bisexual within the context of the show (no way that boy is straight) and Steve Yackey officially said in an interview he and Edwin will "develop their relationship beyond friendship" in season 2 (if it will be able to happen of course).

But I still need DC to canonically confirm Charles as bi. I cannot go through this again. I am sick of baiting. Yes he's obviously bi but I still need it announced. I need it to be absolute, to shush anyone who would doubt it. I need to hear it.

It's pride month now DC, you have the perfect opportunity. It can't be any more perfect.

post was lightly edited because English is not my native language and I wanted to rephrase some stuff better

At this point I just refuse to believe Charles is not inlove with Edwin.

Like besides the fact he looks at him like he's the sun and stars and everything in the universe and all of that; it's so in character for Charles to fall for the first boy that ever showed him kindness. The first person that was ever nice to him, made him feel safe, cared for him as he died. After the way they met?? Of course Charles will bloody fall for Edwin, how couldn't he?

That's so in character of him.

Don't know what about you people but I'm a Charles Rowland he/they swag truther.

Charles Rowland and Edwin Payne are so real, I too would've avoided understanding my sexuality or confronting with my trauma for decades.