#payneland

[megs-bee]

Fic: If every path leads to ruin, then I hope you’re the reason I crawl

Payneland Week fic #2 posted for the final Free Day! @painlandweek

Please enjoy this Alive Boys AU that got it's claws into me two months ago and refused to be the short handful of scenes I originally envisioned.

If every path leads to ruin, then I hope you’re the reason I crawl

Chapters: 1/1 (13412 words) by megs_bee Fandom: Dead Boy Detectives (TV) Rating: Teen Relationships: Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne/Charles Rowland Tags: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alive AU, Sickfic, Hospitals, Panic Attacks, Running Away, Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne Needs a Hug, Charles Rowland Needs a Hug (DCU), Canon-Typical Violence, mentioned - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting

Summary: The first time Charles woke up, he thought he was seeing a ghost. A soft, posh voice was speaking to him, steady cadence and barely loud enough to be heard over other strange sounds Charles couldn’t place.

There was that voice, though. He doesn’t recognize it, but it sounds… Charles tried again to open his eyes. After what felt like ages he managed to crack his lids enough to glimpse an unfamiliar room, dimly lit and full of machines he couldn’t identify.

Then he sees the boy, curled in a chair with his legs pulled up and a book propped on his knees. He’s too pale and his hair’s all tidy and it looks like he’s wearing just his long underwear or something which is a bit odd. He’s reading out loud, sounding calm and steady, but something about him still seems scared. Like he’s ready to rabbit out of the room at the slightest noise.

Ghost boy, Charles thinks in the second before his eyes close and everything falls away.

Read On Ao3

[khorazir]

Day 7 of @painlandweek 2026: Free Day

Looks like the boys got hold of the ghost camera ...

Photo #7: This camera is brills! And Edwin looks so bloody fit!

Photo #8: Not as fit as you, my darling. Beautiful as always!

[antichrists-plus1]

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

Written for @painlandweek Day 7 - Free day

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Dead Boy Detectives (TV) Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne/Charles Rowland Characters: Edwin Paine | Edwin Payne, Charles Rowland (DCU) Additional Tags: Kink Exploration, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Sadist Charles Rowland, Masochist Edwin Payne, Established Relationship, Post-Canon, Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, Tenderness, Marking Series: Part 1 of Strangelove, will you give it to me? Summary:

"Ready then, love?"

Charles waits for Edwin to nod, the movement both stiff from his straight-backed posture and buzzing with anticipation.

Charles nods back, raising the iron letter opener, the blade heavy in his hand. His gloves stop him from burning, even as he grips the handle firm. He would worry that Edwin has no such protection himself, except that's the whole point of this, isn't it?

-

Edwin and Charles play around with iron.

[shadowquill17]

the one where there are chickens

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

Edwin rolls his eyes, snaps his fingers, and the feathery, ghostly drones are gone in half a second, bursting into blue flames. Charles’ stomach tightens again, like someone is wringing it like a wet rag, and then— God, he’s so fucking hot. The thought is so clear and so pure it rings through Charles’ head like a gong, the shock of it shaking some lost piece out of a dusty, messy corner of his brain. It flies out and slots, with a snick, into the last empty space in the puzzle of Charles’ complicated feelings for Edwin, nestling in between the other pieces like it always knew where it was going to go. Charles blinks.

My entry for Day 7 of @painlandweek 2026!

[ironicalmonocle]

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

A vivid flashback to Hell is the last thing Edwin thought he'd be happy to have, but it turns out he learned something very important there.

But when a bit of Hell reached out to destroy Charles... Edwin knows, just as sure as he knew on the steps of Hell, that he has to tell his friend something.

Something Charles doesn't seem to know. To Edwin- nothing- not even confessing his love, could be more important than what he has to say.

And he does.

[edmcmayonnaise]

[Painland Week - Day 7] Free Day

[mirellapryce]

Bringing back the mental image of Charles enthusiastically grabbing Edwin by the face in order to smooch the side of his face 💖

[remyjay17]

This is my favorite character dynamic, full stop