"great. love you too. can we go now?"

absolutely no one feels normal about edwin they want to fuck him or to put him under a microscope or to kill him

when charles was like "omfg are you turning my rescue mission into your little orpheus/eurydice fantasy rn???" and edwin was like "ummm i fucking hope not" that was cute

DEAD BOY DETECTIVES 1.07

You sacrificed me to a demon, who traded me to another demon, who traded me to a thing that is worse than a demon, and this is your punishment? An eternity of paper cuts? I didn't know. It was a prank, it was just to scare you.

DEAD BOY DETECTIVES — The Case of the Very Long Stairway (S01E07) ››› George Rexstrew as Edwin Payne

the thing that I am really stuck on is how Edwin didn't even CONSIDER hiding his feelings from Charles. he's been living (haha) with this THING in his mind and in his heart for literal decades, has been pointedly looking away from it for so long that he doesn't even realise it's there. and when he finally looks at it, he has to tell Charles - even if it's scary and he knows Charles might not feel the same way. because regardless of romance they truly are each other's person, and it hurt Edwin to know that Charles was hurting and was hiding it, and so now that he has finally realised his feelings, he HAS to tell Charles - because it's so important that Charles knows that Edwin loves him, regardless of whether he feels the sam way. brb killing myself just so i can go tell that funky little ghost how brave he is

The thing that gets me about Charles' response to Edwin's confession is that that is not a man saying no, that is a man saying "I love you the most in every other aspect of my life. Give me time to find out if, maybe, I can love you the most in this one, too."

the thing about charles that gets me is how kind he is. even with all his anger, he always reaches out first with kindness. him comforting the soldier ghost. him offering crystal a place to stay. him stopping and checking on the librarian on the stairs in hell. his reaction to edwin's confession. he is a character defined not by the pain he's experienced, but the kindness he extends to others. he has every reason to be bitter and vengeful, but instead he is full of love and compassion. i love him so much.

ok but he was fully flirting here. I think it's so funny that Charles was like "idk if I'm in love with you but we have all eternity to figure it out" and then literally an episode later he was like "welp time to start thinking about this!" and immediately started openly flirting with Edwin. you go bisexual king

THE MET GALA 2024 Mike Faist & Josh O'Connor

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.

I am haunted by the detailed, completed map of Hell that Edwin took notes on. You don’t understand, it makes me sick. It’s one thing to have a basic layout, a vague idea, or a rudimentary map but it was meticulously detailed. Down to doors and what they do and where they go. Down to secret spaces in the walls. He even knew what ringing an innocuous bell would do. It can only mean one thing. We don’t know when Edwin began trying to escape, but assuming he started from the get go, it means that he spent all his decades in Hell trying to find a way out. He never stopped running. And that is assuming he never stopped. From his second trip, we could see he resorted to his old ways and ran. But he was eventually caught, reduced to pieces. Even when Charles showed up, he didn’t seem very optimistic about their chances. He could feel every second of those 70 years. There were likely many times he fell to hopelessness, trembling in the corner watching himself be desecrated knowing it was going to happen again and again. How long? How many times did he try to be so, so quiet, hoping he would have a few moments before the next round? How many times did he muster the ability to run, just one more time? How long did it take him to run, discovering the ends of each ring? How many times did he sprint up, down, north, south, east, west, trying to escape? And what happened when he finally escaped? How long did it take for him to be able to relax, even a little? Because he can never relax. He must always outrun Death and her constituents because he can’t count on them to be fair. How many times does he look over his shoulder, waiting for the monster to claim its eternal meal once again? His breath of fresh air, his first taste of companionship in ages not only keeps him company, but sticks by him. And then, in that blessing there comes a curse, because now you have something to lose. Because when you taste ambrosia how can you return to starvation? He feels safe with Charles. Happy and comfortable, but the threat always lingers. And he knows that Charles couldn’t fend off Death. He never considered he could fend off Hell beasts; after all, he’s just a ghost kid. He watches innocents be slaughtered on repeat, unphased by the level of violence but no less affected by it, because no one has even a clue what it takes to be this kind. Even at his most happy, he has so, so much to lose and he goes back to Hell when hope was dangled in his face like the fruit of Tantalus. When he returns, he’s subjected to Hell once again, sustaining through torture that obliterates souls, only to watch his best friend, his confidant, his platonic soulmate, die horrifically. This woman who gave him sea-glass courage, so powerful and yet so fragile. Allowed him to be himself, gave him permission to do so. Was the openness to his closed self, and now she is gone. And he retains his composure, his stiff, British posture because it is what has saved him from madness and Despair, protected him, and now the world is darker without Niko Sasaki in it. But surely he saw this coming. After all, humans are messy. And yet, he shows up for their souls, time and time again.

Edwin Payne is THE character.