#payneland

Thank you for the ask!

🥷 Another snippet from Behind the Red Mask:

Charles pulls him into a hug. Edwin sags into the embrace, closing his eyes and letting himself indulge in the feeling of Charles holding him close, the warmth of his skin under Edwin’s hands and his familiar scent surrounding him. He knows Charles is just trying to reassure himself that Edwin is alright, but he lets himself fantasize for a moment that Charles will guide Edwin’s face towards his and press their lips together. It will never happen, but it’s a pleasant fantasy. “You’re okay,” Charles murmurs in his ear, like he’s trying to convince himself. Edwin holds him a little tighter. “I’m okay.” “What the fuck?” a raspy voice asks and they both whirl around to find the would-be assassin sitting up, looking up at them with wide, confused eyes. His eyes are no longer black, but a pale, watery blue. “Where am I? Who the fuck are you?”

🏠 And from the original project:

“I wouldn’t do that,” a voice says from behind Ansel as he reaches for the padlock. Ansel whirls around, feeling inexplicably caught out, like he was just caught snooping through someone’s underwear drawer, not trying to examine his own garden. “Why not?” he asks the man standing in the doorway. He recognizes the man as the one who was arguing with Theodore at the funeral earlier. He’s abandoned his ill-fitting suit jacket, and now has the sleeves of his dress shirt unbuttoned and his neck tie draped loosely around his shoulders. The neck tie has a rubber ducky pattern, which seems an odd choice for a funeral. Knowing Theodore, that was likely what they argued about. The man offers Ansel a tired smile as he approaches, and Ansel sees that his dark eyes are bloodshot. “The wards will burn you,” the man says. “Mads put every protection she could think of on that gate. A trip to the ER seems like a bad start to your stay in Coventry Beach.”

Thank you for the ask!

Another snippet from Behind the Red Mask:

Charles takes a step back, running his hand through his curls. “Yeah, I know, you’re right. But if I hadn’t heard you scream…” “Let’s not think about that,” Edwin says firmly, looking down at the man crumpled at their feet. He doesn’t appear to be conscious. “There’s something wrong with his eyes. Did you notice?” “Was paying more attention to his knife than his eyes.” But Charles leans down to carefully pull up one of the man’s eyelids. He sucks in a breath when the man’s eyes are revealed to be nothing but black, the whites and the irises completely swallowed up by darkness. “What would cause that?” Edwin asks. “Nothing natural.” Charles lets the man’s eye fall closed, backing away and putting a hand on Edwin’s chest to push him away from the assassin. “You sure you’re alright, mate?” “Yes.” Edwin checks himself over for any injuries and finds none. “You got to me in time. He did stab my favorite pillow though.” Charles’s lips twitch, though his eyes are still tense. “You sure you don’t want me to kill him?” Edwin doesn’t dignify that with a response. “Thank you.” The humor flees Charles’s face. “You don’t have to thank me, mate. He shouldn’t have been able to get in here without me noticing.”

Thank you for the ask!

A snippet from Behind the Red Mask:

Then: Seven years ago

“Charles!” Edwin shouts as Charles drives his cricket bat into the would-be assassin’s abdomen, causing the man to double over with a wheeze. But Charles doesn’t seem to hear him, just cracks their attacker over the head with the cricket bat. He’s angrier than Edwin has ever seen him, and Edwin is afraid that he’ll actually kill the man right here in Edwin’s bedroom. Charles looks terribly vulnerable out of his Blue Phantom uniform, wearing nothing but a vest and a pair of boxers, but that isn’t stopping him from attempting to beat the man who just tried to kill Edwin into a bloody pulp. “Charles!” Edwin shouts again as the assassin falls to his knees and Charles raises his cricket bat to strike again. Kicking away the bedsheets tangled around his legs, Edwin rushes across the room to grab Charles by the arm, stopping the swing. Charles tries to shake him off. “What are you doing?” “Trying to stop you from killing that man,” Edwin snaps. Charles turns on him, breathing hard. His dark eyes are wild. “He tried to kill you.” “I remember.” When Edwin woke up to find a man with a knife standing over him, there was a terrifying moment where he thought it was Sa’al returning for him. But the man on the ground is about several decades younger than Sa’al, and built like a rugby player. “That doesn’t mean I want you to beat him to death in my bedroom.” “Could take him outside, mate.”

So this is love

Summary: While on a case, the boys encounter Himeros, the god of lust. Charles gets an earful of love magic, and Edwin is told there's only one way to break the spell: with an act of true love. Armed with no plan whatsoever, Edwin has to figure out an act of true love while fighting off Charles' advances. Which would be easier if Charles didn't insist on confessing his love to Edwin the whole time.

chapter 7: take a chance on me

Rating: M

Chapter Length: 6.8k

Relationships: Edwin Payne/Charles Rowland

Characters: Charles Rowland, Edwin Payne

Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Everybody Lives, 1990s, Sharing a Bed, Canon-Typical Violence, Mystery, Blood and Injury, Supernatural Elements, Magic, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, Eventual Smut, Hurt/Comfort, testing the limits of codependence, part-time inkeeper and part-time detective charles and edwin