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When he first met him, Ranpo would have never thought that Poe would bring such derangement into his life. That, apparently, not even his Ultra Deduction could anticipate.
Ranpo was a creature of logic. Logic was the only thing that could always be trusted above everything else, the only thing that could always lead to the truth. That is what he had always believed, and what his exprience had, time after time, proved right. Ranpo followed logic, always and without exceptions. He didn't know what he meant not doing so, didn't know what it meant listening to anything that wasn't that, anything that wasn't the certain path designed by evidence and deductions.
Ranpo didn't know what it meant when people said “follow your heart”. Didn't understand it, didn't care about it, didn't need it.
That is what he thought, at least, until he fell in love.
And he found out that even his brilliant mind, sometimes, needed the help of his heart.
~
In hindsight, he should have known. He should have known from the very first moment, from the first time his heart skipped a beat when he laid eyes on him, the first time he felt himself blushing when their eyes met, the first time he, without thinking twice, had offered him some of his snacks, the first time he had acknowledge the brilliance of his mind and his detective skills.
In hindsight, it should have been the easiest case Ranpo had ever encountered.
And yet, it left him confused, his mind wandering more often than not to a pair of dark eyes and soft curls, to the sound of an anxious voice calling his name, sending shivers down his spine, leaving him flustered and without an answer.
Truth be told, Ranpo didn't mind too much. He didn't like being confused, he absolutely hated not being able to understand, it left him frustrated and angry like nothing else - but still, he sort of liked how those weird thoughts made him feel, warm and happy, smiling at someone who wasn't even there.
It was a mystery, and he himself was the victim. He knew the culprit, too - a certain handsome, anxious individual who had become so much more than just his rival. What he didn't know, was what exactly the crime consisted of.
~
Poe had become a constant in Ranpo's life. It had started as sort of a challenge after the war against the Guild, a partnership of sort in which Poe kept submitting new novels to him, new mysteries to solve, and Ranpo kept solving them all. At first, Ranpo could see frustration in his friend's features when he solved the new case he had brought him too easily, the same frustration that had obviously haunted Poe for the previous six years, and that had brought him to hold a grudge against him for that long.
Ranpo remembered all too well the first time he came to the solution of the mystery - a great, entertaining one that had even kept him busy for a bit - and, raising his head had found Poe staring at him, his eyes barely visible behind his black hair, and there had been no frustration in them, no, only what Ranpo could easily identify as admiration.
He also remember the skip of his heart and the blushing that had threatened to tint his cheeks at the sight and at Poe's next words.
"You're really amazing, Ranpo-kun".
It wasn't something new, it definitely wasn't the first time he had heard those words; and yet, there was something completely different, that despite the mess in his head in that moment, Ranpo knew was the simple fact that the words came from Poe. That, somehow, made it feel like they held a whole different weight and meaning. He noticed the way Poe's eyes were shining, focused on him and nothing else, the way his lips were curved in a small, happy smile, the way his hands were shaking from excitement. He noticed it all, just like he always noticed every little detail on a crime scene, and for a moment he couldn't think of anything else, finding himself mesmerized.
"Of course I am", he said in the end, forcing himself to stop staring - even though he guessed it was kind of okay, since Poe was staring right back at him. "You're not so bad yourself, you know?", he added, and watched as Poe's smile grew a bit bigger, his cheeks colouring and his eyes still looking at Ranpo like he was the center of the whole universe.
And, in that moment, Ranpo understood that maybe he had gotten it wrong and there was no culprit, that maybe, just maybe , the truth was that they both were each other's victims.
~
When they kissed for the first time, Ranpo wasn't expecting it. He was used to be prepared to everything, to be the one who laughed last – he was used to be the one who surprised others, not the other way around. But he had long come to learn and accept that Poe was the exception to every rule, the exception to everything that he had ever known about himself and had always thought was set in stone.
The thing that surprised him the most, was that he was the one who initiated it. He hadn't realized what he was doing until he had moved closer and closer, his lips a breath away from Poe's, staying still for an infinite instant while his heart pounded in his ears, and then moving in, cutting away even the last silver of space separating them. Ranpo didn't think about it – and that was what surprised him the most, because he never did things without thinking them through, he thought about it, examined every possible outcome and only then he would act. But not now, not when Poe was looking at him with honest, unguarded eyes, eyes in which Ranpo could see what he himself was feeling, not when the smile on his lips while he talked was so at ease , and his lips seemed to be asking Ranpo to be kissed right then and there.
So he moved, without thinking about it twice, without thinking at all.
Poe didn't back away. Ranpo, logically , knew he wouldn't have done it, the evidence was all there, clear as day for everyone to see, pointing to the obvious solution of the whole mystery.
Logically.
But his heart still flipped, beating hard and fast like never before, when, after a moment of surprise, he felt Poe relaxing under the touch, returning the kiss and pressing his lips more firmly against Ranpo's, efficiently cutting off any coherent logical thought that could have crossed his mind. Hands came up to Ranpo's face, gentle and eager at the same time, one of Ranpo's own hands making its way in Poe's hair, the other finding its place on his neck, bringing him closer.
There was nothing logical about it all. There was no place for thinking, no place for deduction, no place for anything that wasn't their lips pressed together, their bodies flush against each other, their senses overloaded by it all.
“I think I solved the mystery”, Ranpo said when they broke apart, and Poe smiled,
“You always do”.