* HARD TIMES: charles’ teen verse notes (and an excuse for me to short of flesh out charles’ background against the context of his newfound timeline)
warnings: allusions to child abuse, homophobia and what not. if you know anything about charles, this should be to be expected.
he was born in december 1969, which would make him roughly 51 in the present time, and he’s played between the years of 1983 and 1986, which would be between ages 14 and 17.
he’s actually a small town midwestern kid, who would’ve thought? he’s from rockford, illinois. in 2021, that means the fourth largest city in the state, boasting about 170k citizens. in the 80s? it means something of a footnote. a town 90 mins away from chicago that got hit pretty fucking hard by the early 80s recession. unemployment through the roof and little to nothing interesting to do, that’s rockford alright.
his father, markus derane, is the police department’s chief of police, and as far as authority figures go, markus derane is pretty damn respected. hell, for a time, he might’ve been more respected than the mayor. he’s widely considered to be a very charismatic and sociable man (even if he can be a little intimidating), and his good reputation should, in theory, trickle down to his son.
in reality, things are little more complicated. charles’ father is actually a corrupt, mean piece of shit who hates his son’s guts, and who routinely physically, emotionally, and verbally abuses him. with his mother rather mysteriously out of the picture, he’s also got pretty much full control of charles’ life. acts like it, too.
the visual consequences of the abuse (i.e. the bruises he cannot hide), coupled with his own standoffish personality, the tendency to be a nuisance/absolute menace, and the rumors of his less than acceptable “inclinations”, make it so he’s perceived as more of a troubled child than not. markus derane’s embarrassing delinquent son. adults shun him, and kids tend to be sooner scared of him than not. the few peers that have tried to bully him have famously gotten their shit rocked, and as a result, classmates have resorted to leaving him alone.
charles loves to act like he likes that, and part of him actually does, but it does affect him a lot. he tried to run away from home when he was 12, and the consequences were disastrous. since then, markus keeps him on a tight leash. charles has to come up with increasingly complex ways to stay out of his (and pretty much all cops, since they know him by name) sights, since everything he does ends up finding its way back to markus.
still with all that he manages to do quite a lot -- as it turns out, he’s quite smart. he even makes it as far as chicago sometimes. it’s in that city where teen charles thrives, and where he has many of his most formative experiences -- like concluding the fact that he’s queer as fuck, and that small town life suits him as well as getting hit with a bag of bricks. it’s in chicago where he learns the most about himself.
his life during these years is defined with one word only: survival. to call him unhappy would be a hysterical understatement. also, due to a series of unpredictable events, things get increasingly more hostile charles and markus, to the point where charles is certain his life is at risk and being near his father is no longer sustainable.
and this is me just keeping things simple and vague, for the sake of not extending myself too much. it also follows charles’ canon history pretty accurately.
the differences start with the fact that, unlike in canon, charles does manage to develop important relationships in rockford. the bishop family moves next door from the derane household, and by a stroke of good luck, he meets christian, a boy his age, and noya, his older sister. (both played by @exmateria). they’re both lovely. christian is far too nice to charles, and charles cannot help but be nice in return, in his own stilted way. they become fast friends, and charles kind of takes him under his wing.
as for noya... things are funny between them. but, they get along very well. almost too well, at times. and that’s all i’ll say on the matter -- for now.
other interesting facts:
boy’s dressing like this. like this. his hair like looks like zack’s from saved by the bell, without the blond.
you’d think he’d like rock music but outside of punk music and queen he’s nowhere to be seen. no, he likes prince, actually. michael jackson. that’s where his interests lie. he’s also a big fan of the bestie boys and run dmc. markus can’t stand it; he’s not allowed to play any music in the house.
he’s got encyclopedic knowledge of every copper in rockford. their names, their lives, their schedules, their habits. this is very useful when he wants to go unnoticed. it’s also how his criminal dispositions initially come to light.
for that matter, he regularly shoplifts for clothes and things markus would never in a million years buy him. but since he can’t have markus learning about them, he learns of ways to hide it. eventually he starts to hide them in christian’s house. christian even gives him a drawer in his closet for his stash. that’s truly best friend material, right there.
there’s a pinterest board and it’s beautiful
the verse is not technically just teen charles, since i also intend to explore charles during the 90s, as that’s bound to be quite interesting as well. my focus for now is the timeline i laid out, though, and i’ll likely make a post for how things roll forward in other decades. i’m pretty excited to delve into actually period appropiate headcanon-ing and writings for charles, and anything i discover will likely impact his canon timeline too. hence, i’m open to discussing interactions with anyone in this verse.
