Cesare

aka almostnever, 40+, F. my AO3, my Dreamwidth, my Twitter.

[edwinpaynedirectory]

The Dead Boy Detective Agency, from the Production designer's Tony Wohlgemuth's instragram.

notes: never noticed the extra little switchboard desk! with a wooden spinning chair, I assume that's Charles'. also, a radiator of sorts opposite it, where the open closet door hides it. (Crystal won't be going cold, hopefully!) I love that they seem to hoard lamps.

[khorazir]

Ink and watercolour art inspired by the absolutely amazing Dead Boy Detectives fic The Song of Rowland by @mirrorleaf and @promethia-tenk.

[codenamecesare]

Seconding the fic rec, it's fantastic.

[tumblerislovetumblerislife]

charles in a pretty dress is something that can be so personal, actually

based on the gorgeous fic by @codenamecesare, which i recently reread and got inspired by, and which is in fact the first of their many amazing fics that i read! (mind the rating)

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[codenamecesare]

Look at this outrageously beautiful illustration by triple threat @tumblerislovetumblerislife / ObsessedWithFandom on AO3, who writes some of the best Dead Boy Detectives fic around and regularly encourages other fans with detailed, enthusiastic feedback and creates just spectacular art. If you have any interest in this fandom, you owe it to yourself to feast on all their incredible work!

[qwanderer]

I've had so much fun illustrating @ms-zilia's chapter of The Great Escape Debacle of 2025, in which a sentient library messes with our boys! Thanks to everyone who's participating in our round robin project, it's been a delight.

Under the cut I've included the frames of the gif in a wider angle in case you'd like to take a longer look!

[codenamecesare]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Short scene, complete: Charles, Edwin and Simon meet in Hell.

[codenamecesare]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Magic de-ages Charles & Edwin to living eight-year-olds. Started this for a prompt fill, but it faltered. Still, there's some cute stuff here with eight-year-old versions of Charles and Edwin meeting for the 'first time.'

[codenamecesare]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Continuing daily updates of my shorts collection. Today: cut scene of Crystal and Edwin bickering about pottery.

[codenamecesare]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapter 2 is a complete short: Edwin comforts Charles over the cover-up of his recent death.

[codenamecesare]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

I'm furious the DBD characters were apparently cut from Sandman s2. So my dumb revenge is to share absolutely everything I've written for this fandom on AO3. All the shorter stuff will be collected in this post.

Each chapter's labeled with what it is: short completed piece, loose scene, WIP fragment. Posting daily for a week to add noise to the DBD tags.

[edwin-paynes-bowtie]

Welp.

[codenamecesare]

So... the contention of The Sandman TV show's creative team is that it would have been very, very difficult to incorporate the Dead Boy Detectives into The Sandman's Season of Mists storyline... which was where they first appeared in The Sandman comics? And became breakout popular characters, because so many people loved their story?

It would have been very, very difficult to adapt Season of Mists as written in the goddamn comics?

They teased an appearance of the Dead Boy Detectives characters in Sandman s2. Why even do that if this was the attitude? What the fuck?

[marbienl13]

And now I've got a Dead Boy Detectives x The Sentinel AU on my mind. What if: - Edwin was a Sentinel - Charles was his Guide All the rest stays the same. The time in hell, meeting each other. Just how would that go?

Edwin, his senses so sharp it does come in handy on their cases. Frequently one of his senses is overstimulated as he focuses on something - a sight, a sound, etc... and he gets a bit lost and needs a nudge to pull him back from a zone (get him back into the here and now). But oh, you mess around with Charles and Edwin becomes fury incarnate. And Charles, as an empath, often reaching out to touch Edwin, using his powers to calm and centre his friend, yet a bit hesitant at first to reach out to get some mental grounding and reassurance for himself; Edwin learns very quickly that Charles needs such grounding, and then takes measures to ensure his friend gets what he needs - initiating the contact himself - BEFORE Charles' mind starts to spiral or his mental barriers are down. (Well... he tries his best - sometimes there are very vexing circumstances and then Charles' mind is wide open and it's time to roll out the fluff and comfort or, when they're on a case Edwin will lift Charles into his arms and find the nearest mirror - there will be snuggles! and the potential orbing up >:3 ). ~*~ Or, what if... Edwin was the Guide and Charles was his Sentinel? Also very interesting. Protective!Charles going in berserker mode when anything happens to Edwin, Edwin... after all that happened, so hesitant about touch but *needing* it from his Sentinel to remain grounded and maintain his mental barriers - all the warring thoughts in his mind there! Edwin needs to reach out to Charles to keep his friend centred, but in this case, touch is easier - Charles needs him and he can be in control (and oh Edwin can do some damage to other people's minds when the situation is dire). And Charles is patient and loving and oh so gentle with him and sees this need for control - and he reassures and praises Edwin (and eventually will become responsible for Edwin, years later, confidently strutting and twirling about, a bit prissy and snippy as he starts in on a lecture of some kind - and Charles just loves every moment of it). ~*~ This could work so well either way. And in both scenarios there's ONE golden rule: BONDED PAIR - DO NOT SEPARATE So what could go wrong? >:3

[codenamecesare]

I was just thinking about Sentinel/Guide AU for this fandom the other day. There was a period when it felt like every new fandom to come along would get a Sentinel/Guide AU, and often the paperthin canon from The Sentinel would get embroidered and elaborated on... it was almost becoming a bit of a folksonomy for a while, like Omegaverse stuff.

But they almost fill the same niche, in a way (Guide/Sentinel and Omegaverse usually center on two people forming an instant tight bond based on innate characteristics) and Omegaverse as a collective genre won out.

[tumblerislovetumblerislife]

in corridors of dream (now with you forever) (9463 words) by ObsessedWithFandom Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: Dead Boy Detectives (TV) Rating: Explicit

anniversary part 2! for @idliketobeatree and inspired by her ICONIC ghost comic 💖💖💖

other funky versions and the ref under the cut!

the only solid edwin and charles, though i did play around with the gradients to have edwin in cooler tones and charles in warmer tones. because it's fun

the reference pic and what i used for the skeletons. not mine!

i just think it's funky to see charles kissing a skeleton okay. very fitting for their kiss in ch1!

skeleton4skeleton payneland! done with a subtract layer

skeleton4skeleton payneland, now in even more funky colours! combination of a negative and a colour dodge layer for the effect

[tumblerislovetumblerislife]

the gal who's like a smoking habit; my need for her just won't quit. inspired ofc by @laiqualaurelote's GLORIOUS barbles fic, what's pasta is present, and the quote that would not leave my mind since i first read it <3

stills under the cut!

based on this iconic picture of gilda!

[guardianspirits13]

Edwin Payne and his silly little hand gestures Pt 1 | Pt 2

[guardianspirits13]

Edwin Payne and his silly little hand gestures Pt 2 | Pt 1

[mariacallous]

[technically-human]

Hi I love your art so much and I wanted to let you know because im not sure if you need to hear this or not but im proud of you. I was also wondering if you could draw charles and edwin laughing and being domestic on the couch? If not I understand and thank you so much for your contribution to this lovely fandom.

What do you think they're talking about?

ko-fi