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The door to the Agency tentatively swings open and Ranpo looks up from his paperwork, squinting against the sunlight until he spots a head peeking in. “Ah! Poe-kun!” He waves a greeting. “Come in, come in.”
Hesitantly, Poe slips inside, closing the door behind him and looking around the room anxiously before asking, “Is no one else here?” He then remembers that manners are a thing and blushes, addressing the Detective sitting at his desk. “Ah, good evening first of all, Ranpo-kun.”
Ranpo grins and leaps up from his chair in order to sit on his desk and lets his feet dangle in the air. “What a lovely surprise!”
Poe’s eyes flicker towards the paperwork on the desk and he raises an eyebrow questioningly. “Surprise or…distraction?” He’s surprised at himself at the teasing tone in his voice and something akin to wonder flickers across Ranpo’s face, but it’s gone before Poe can be sure. Ranpo doesn’t get to answer, though, because Poe abruptly starts rummaging around in his bag, causing Karl to jump off his shoulders in the process. “Ah!” He sighs in relief as he pulls out a battered-looking notebook.
“Oh, is that your new novel?” Ranpo asks and leans forward eagerly, gripping the edges of the desk so as to not fall over.
“Yes. I thought you could give it a read and…maybe tell me what you think of it?” Poe’s blush spreads on his cheeks while he proposes the idea but Ranpo’s grin widens and his emerald eyes start to sparkle in anticipation.
“With pleasure, Poe-kun!”
A relieved smile appears on Poe’s face and he holds out his draft, waiting for him to take it, but Ranpo suddenly hops off the desk and walks straight past Poe. Confused, he turns around to see what’s going on and finds Ranpo doing what looks suspiciously like picking a lock. “Um…Ranpo-kun? What, uh…are you doing there?”
Ranpo throws him a look that screams Duh, before turning his attention back towards the locked cupboard. “Picking this stupid lock, of course.”
“May I ask…why?”
“Well, Poe-kun, how else am I going to get to the sweets locked away in there?”
Poe stares at the back of his head in disbelief for a moment, before huffing in amusement, tiny bubbles of giggles evolving into full-blown laughter that eventually has him bend over and hold his stomach.
Ranpo swivels around at the sound, completely forgetting about the half-picked lock in his hands, and if Poe wasn’t so distracted laughing, he’d feel embarrassed by the look of fondness in Ranpo’s eyes as he watches him.
As soon as he calms down again–it really wasn’t even that funny to begin with, Poe doesn’t know what suddenly got into him–the blush on his face heats up again and he clears his throat awkwardly, rearranging and tugging at his clothes. “Anyway–“
“Hold on. I’ve never heard you laugh before,” Ranpo says, his eyes still watching him intently.
Poe tries to avoid his gaze and looks around the room to find Karl. “Yeah well, I, uh, I suppose–“
“You should do it more often. I like it.”
Poe’s gaze flicks back to Ranpo and a comfortable warmth spreads in his stomach, but the other man already turned his back again, successfully opening the lock and tossing it behind him with a loud clattering sound. He grabs a handful of brightly-coloured lollipops from the cupboard and strides past Poe, snatching the notebook out off his hands before resuming his place on the desk.
“I have to say, I’m very curious about this, Poe-kun.”
All the colour drains from Poe’s face then as nervousness creeps back in and he gulps, folding his hands and waiting awkwardly in front of Ranpo as he starts to read. This was a foolish idea, he’ll probably only tear it apart, Poe thinks, I should have worked more on the characters and plot before giving it to him. As Poe’s mind slowly fills itself with worries, his fumbling gets worse and Karl, sensing his owner’s obvious distress, scurries back to him, climbing his legs and settling on his shoulders.
Poe relaxes a bit, grateful for the familiar comfort, but his eyes still dart across the room nervously and every time it lands on Ranpo’s examining gaze, reading his words, he winces.
The ticking of the clock in the back of the room is almost unbearably loud and, not even ten pages into the story, Ranpo suddenly slams the notebook down on the table, startling Poe and making him stand completely rigid while his gaze reflexively snaps towards him and the noise.
He blinks at the solemn expression in Ranpo’s eyes and gulps, feeling more anxious by the second. He hates the story.
“I need to say something, Poe-kun.” Oh god, he hates it so much.
“I can still change it, nothing’s set in stone yet, everything can still be–“
“It’s distracting.”
Poe stops mid-sentence and tilts his head in confusion, not quite following Ranpo’s thoughts. Apparently, his expression is bewildered enough for Ranpo to explain further, “You.”
This really doesn’t help, though, so Poe starts scratching Karl’s head nervously, offering, “I can, uh–I can…leave the room? If you like?”
It seems that this was the wrong answer because Ranpo sighs in exasperation and jumps off the desk, walking towards him with a dangerous glint in his eyes. Poe swallows apprehensively, not quite sure why he suddenly feels like prey in the eyes of a lion. This must be a bad dream.
“You’re cute. And I want to kiss you right now.”
Poe chokes on air, coughing awkwardly, and it takes him a whole minute before he finally calms down enough to gape at the smaller man in front of him, squeaking, “Pardon me?”
“I mean, I guess I could think up some of the clever lines you seem to like so much but–“ Ranpo shrugs and closes his eyes, “–I kinda wanted to say the most important thing first.”
The clock keeps ticking obnoxiously in the background and Karls jumps off his shoulders again, leaving Poe to feel vulnerable and exposed as he keeps on staring at Ranpo in silence while his brain desperately tries to restart. This must be a dream.
Ranpo then opens his sparkling green eyes to fix them on Poe, cocking his head to one side before asking, “Don’t you want to kiss me then, Poe-kun?”
“I do!”
Poe’s answer comes sharp and quick, like a bullet, and he blushes furiously immediately after, Ranpo’s confident smirk enough to tell him that he expected as much. “Well, if that’s the case then–” He takes another step towards him and Poe fights the urge to back away, swallowing thickly, “–here goes.”
Ranpo stretches himself, until he’s on his tip-toes, and reaches up to gently cup Poe’s face. Reflexively, Poe leans into the touch and bites the inside of his cheek to suppress a whimper. The smirk on Ranpo’s face widens and he breathes softly against Poe’s lips, the sugary scent of sweets hitting his face, “By the way. I really liked the first few pages.”
And then, he closes the gap between them and the surprised gasp of Poe gets swallowed by their kiss as his eyes widen at the electric surge running down his spine. Ranpo’s lips are, surprisingly, soft against his own and he tastes like sugar, hot chocolate and something Poe can’t quite place his finger on, and he never wants to eat again if it means forgetting this.
Soft fingers brush along the sides of his face before resting on his chest, feeling for his heartbeat, and Poe’s eyes flutter shut as he gives himself to Ranpo and lets himself be consumed by the tingling on his lips and the burning intimacy of touch.
— I think you are beautiful and I would like to kiss you. I can think up some clever lines, if you’d prefer. But I wanted to say that, first. (None of those lines seemed to be about you or me.)