1 - 20 of 3,207 Works in Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne/Charles Rowland
Navigation
Listing Works
-
it changes when the sun goes down by dearheartdont for cutevamp
Fandoms: Dead Boy Detectives (TV)
07 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
The prospective punter is fit, though. Cool green eyes below dark, thick brows. His swept-back hair loosened, so strands hang over his forehead. He looks like an old-fashioned film star with the monochrome of his dark hair against pale skin.
Charles' usual spiel—"Do like what you see? You can see more if you like…"—dries up in his throat, and instead he blurts out, "What's the word that means a politer word for something?"
The man's mouth opens, closes and opens again. "A euphemism?" The man's voice is posh, but pleasant.
Charles leans in closer to the window and smiles. "Thanks, mate. It was on the tip of my tongue, but I couldn't get it. You okay? I can help with directions if you're lost."
"I'm not lost," the man says. "I came here on purpose." His voice gets smaller. "For sex."
*
1990s London. Winter.
Charles Rowland is a sex worker who needs to cover the rent.
Edwin is an attractive new punter with a Mercedes and a request.
(A PWP with shifting power dynamics, dom/sub undertones and a desperate Edwin on his knees in the moonlight).
-
Tags
Summary
Одного прекрасного ранку студент юридичного вишу Едвін Пейн прокидається у своєму ліжку, робить свої вранішні справи та йде за кавою, як зазвичай. Аж раптом він розуміє, що його найкращий друг Чарльз безслідно зник. А найжахливіше те, що ніхто навколо, окрім самого Едвіна, цього не бачить і взагалі не пам'ятає, хто такий той Чарльз.
-
Tags
Summary
Haunted by the grief of losing Niko and desperate to find meaning in everything that happened to him, Edwin’s drawn back to Port Townsend. Back to the idea that the suffering of a ghost like him, someone tempered in hellfire, can be forged into immense magical power. And he’d only use it to protect rather than ruin.
But magic like this always demands its price. Resisting the pull of his new power proves difficult, and sometimes Charles feels like the only thing keeping Edwin tethered to his old self. Yet Charles isn’t without his own battles to fight and truths to face.
As Edwin tries to protect his friends while safeguarding his secret, Charles fights to save Edwin from himself. Soon, the question becomes not whether Edwin is willing to pay the cost, but whether there will be anything left of him when the debt comes due.
OR: Edwin’s corruption arc vs Charles’ feeling realization arc, FIGHT
-
Tags
Summary
When the Dead Boy Detectives are called on to take the case of a ghost horse gone mad, Edwin gets more than he bargained for: another chance to see the animal companion he had loved over a century ago.
-
Wildland (Notes from Heather Mountain Lookout, North Cascades, Chelan County, Washington. May 7 - October 18) by mellxncollie
Fandoms: Dead Boy Detectives (TV)
06 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
It's Charles' third summer as the fire lookout on Heather Mountain. Edwin, a writer looking for a bit of fresh air and inspiration, is the new relief lookout. Before even meeting, they begin to leave notes for each other around the tower.
aka the fire lookout au, a story told entirely by notes, journal entries, letters, and lookout logs.
-
Missed Connections And Lost Opportunities by UneducatedAuthor for JUBE514
Fandoms: Dead Boy Detectives (TV)
06 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
Charles can't help but miss his best friend. It's been a long time since they've seen each other, but when you know what it is to have Edwin Payne as your best friend, you can't really forget it. But he has a good life now, he's building something Edwin would be happy to see. He even has a new favourite podcast, and the host of Dead Boy Detective is pretty aces. It would be awesome to ever meet him, but the guy is kind of famous for his privacy. Charles gets it.
(In which Charles is a Youtuber who loves the host of his favourite podcast, and Edwin is the infamous Dead Boy Detective, who never plans a face reveal, but misses his friend from high school, who he considers the love of his life. When Charles past comes back to bite him, old rocks are underturned, but the two find each other again.)
-
Meet me on the Try Line by m_erlin_s, sixbynine
Fandoms: Dead Boy Detectives (TV), The Dead Boy Detectives (DC Comics)
05 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
Charles had played sports his whole life.
Football, Cricket, Basketball, Rugby - he threw himself into all of it with a passion like no other, and he was good, very good.
Playing on Eastfield Community's Sixth Form Rugby team meant Charles, and his teammates, regularly practiced with and competed against local private boys school: St Hilarion's.
Charles didn't usually pay much attention to the opposing team.
Then Edwin crossed his path.
-
Tags
Summary
August, 1916. Edwin Payne has five months to die, or face a fate far worse.
-
opening doors and pulling some strings by dearheartdont
Fandoms: Dead Boy Detectives (TV)
05 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
When Charles' master dies, he makes the rash decision to steal Sir Dagfinn's identity to compete for tournament prizes as a knight.
Charles' friends, Monty and Crystal, would be happy to just earn enough coin to fill their hungry bellies and return home to London. Thomas of Anglesey, a poet they meet on the road to Rouen, joins the gang as he needs new stories to tell.
Charles, however, has greater desires: to gain glory and prove that a peasant like himself can change his stars.
There are many obstacles for Charles to navigate: learning to joust, navigating courtly manners at banquets, and avoiding the suspicion and wickedly accurate lances of his fellow knight, Lady Esther.
It is the worst possible time to fall in love. But when he meets a handsome and quarrelsome Lord at a tournament in Rouen, Charles vows to gain his favour and his heart.
*
A Medieval AU inspired by A Knight's Tale for Dead Bang Detectives 2025.
Art by birdsongisland (AO3)/ent-is-indecisive (tumblr)
Updates weekly, on a Friday.
-
piece by piece by williamvapespeare
Fandoms: Dead Boy Detectives (TV), The Dead Boy Detectives (DC Comics)
05 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
It starts as most things do, with Charles shooting him a grin so warm it might have melted the glass panes of the original Crystal Palace, and quickened the fire of the Great Exhibition within.
“Don’t worry, mate,” he says. “I’m aces with kids.”
-
My take on a "hand-waving memory magic lets the boys meet a younger version of Charles and it's all very sad" fic. -
Her Majesty’s Company of Gentlemen Monsters by hobbitsdoitbetter
Fandoms: Dead Boy Detectives (TV)
04 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
A gentleman revenant.
An unfortunate necromancer.
A powerful medium and her delightfully sweet bodyguard.
Meet our favourite characters in slightly different circumstances…
And yes, OF COURSE everyone is still super gay :-)
-
Thought I was waitin' for you by spookyserpent
Fandoms: The Sandman (TV 2022), The Sandman (Comics), Dead Boy Detectives (TV), Good Omens (TV)
04 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
“He’s not really scary.”
Hob glances at the girl beside him. “Who isn’t?”
“My brother. He likes people to think he is. It’s… easier, I think.”
“Easier than what?”
Her gaze flicks to him, mismatched eyes catching in the moonlight. For a heartbeat, she looks older than the strange, restless girl she appears to be. “Than letting people see the soft parts. The parts that hurt. The vulnerable, gooey ones. If you’re frightening, people don’t touch you. Don’t want to know you. They don’t get close enough to break you.”
AKA: Hob Gadling sees much more than he lets on, befriends a couple of anthropomorphic entities, considers crimes and maybe saves his Stranger along the way.
-
Is it dumb believing you might love me too? by Padmedala
Fandoms: Dead Boy Detectives (TV)
04 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
“Apparently, we were not on the same page.”
Charles snorts. “Yeah I’m bloody getting that.”
*
A few days after Edwin confesses, Charles comes to his senses and asks Edwin out. But due to a miscommunication, Edwin doesn't realize that they're dating now.
-
Dead Boy Shenanigans [and those of Living Girls] by fallenStar_cygnus
Fandoms: Dead Boy Detectives (TV)
04 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
a series of incorrect quotes originally posted on my tumblr [@falling-star-cygnus]
Some of these have already been turned into fics by yours truly, some are being written as this is posted, but please! enjoy the sneak peeks and original plans and memes >w•
-
Tags
Summary
Charles keeps waking up in places he has no memory of going to, with no idea of how long he's been gone or what he's done, and no good answers for Edwin when he makes it back to the office. Meanwhile, they've picked up a case - faceless ghosts are causing trouble in all sorts of places.
Or, five times Charles disappears and turns back up on his own, plus one time Edwin goes and finds him first.
-
Tags
Summary
Charles Rowland and Edwin Payne are best mates. They spend all their time together, do everything together, and have done since 1989. Then there came a day in 1997 when Edwin overcame his Hell Trauma(TM) a tiny bit and loosened up just enough to remember the name of a non-client bloke.
Let’s just say Charles is a bit startled.
Or—
5 times Charles Rowland was jealous over Edwin Payne and the one time a certain oblivious ghost realized it.
Series
- Part 1 of Journey to the Center of a Dead Boy
-
Tags
Summary
A goddess, a ghost, a crow and a cat all walk into an alley, Niko thought. It wasn’t a bad opening for a joke. She couldn’t figure out the ending, though.
Series
- Part 3 of we all have a hunger
-
Tags
Summary
Assistant to Death, Edwin Payne, fucked up on his first solo job: firstly, he arrived too early, and then the charismatic boy who was dying stubbornly refused to go to his afterlife. Being transferred to the Lost and Found's data processing department was humiliating enough, but he realised Death must be having a laugh at his expense when he met his assigned training partner...
Or: Edwin and Charles become reluctant colleagues, escape their boring desk jobs to found a Detective Agency and stumble into a hell of a lot of trouble along the way…
-
Tags
Summary
Entelechy, n.: the realisation of potential; the supposed vital principle that guides the development and functioning of an organism or other system or organisation; in philosophy, that which realises or makes actual what is otherwise merely potential.
Edwin, Charles, and Crystal return to London, where there's a lot to deal with, including grieving Niko’s death, integrating new colleagues into the Agency, and the fallout from their various revelations in Port Townsend. Edwin is especially struggling: unable to recharge his energy as he usually would, he finds himself more dependent on Charles than ever. Meanwhile, Charles is trying to sort out his tangled feelings and Crystal is attempting to get her life back on track...
-
Remembering Him Comes in Flashbacks & Echoes by thegirlofthorns
Fandoms: Dead Boy Detectives (TV)
02 Sep 2025
Tags
Summary
Charles plopped down unceremoniously on the other. It was the same position they always took if they weren’t touching, and Charles wondered if it was some sort of muscle memory. The thought brought tears to his eyes again.
He forced himself to summarize the situation. “So, the witch bolt gave you amnesia. But only for me.”
“It appears that way,” Edwin said. “Yes.”
“So… you don’t remember me? For real? Like… at all.” Charles tried to keep his tone non-judgmental. He hoped to God it was working.
“No,” Edwin said, sounding sad. “I am sorry. But, if it is any consolation, I think that I remember loving you.”
-
Or, Edwin loses his memories of Charles. And yet, their love can still shake the earth.