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The jingling noise that the bell made everytime someone would open the door to the cafe never failed to make Poe smile to himself, it reminded him of something he would like to describe as home. At least that's what he had started to describe everything that he felt comforted by.
He had given a quiet “Hello” and a quick nod as a greeting to the employee working behind the counter, as he did every other time he came. Making his way through the, mostly empty, cafe and to the back where the staircase was, he all but swiftly walked up them (had even skipped a few steps), until he reached the top floor.
Ah yes, the one and only Armed Detective Agency.
Grinning to himself as he stood in front of the green door, Poe paused to adjust the grip on the folders filled with pages of hand-written novels he was holding in his hand, courtesy of bringing them with him. Now having a free hand, he could open the door without issue. Although before he could open the door, he was reminded that a certain raccoon friend was currently perched around his shoulders when he felt something cuddle closer to his neck.
Smiling even wider now, he reached with his hand to give the raccoon a quick pet. “Well Karl, you ready?”, Poe asked half-heartedly, knowing full well the raccoon would only make an annoyed whining noise in response. Sighing, his hand reached out to the doorknob, twisting it before pushing it open.
What he opened it to however, he was not expecting.
The office looked empty, absolutely deserted. The lights were off but the sunlight peeking through the open shades provided a source of light anyway. Quite obviously there was no one in the room making it look like it was abandoned from the way papers were haphazardly scattered across desks and books that looked like they were forced back into their slots on the shelves.
Poe’s face immediately fell into a grimace at the scene. He had planned to show Ranpo some of his new writing today, or at least– try to since Ranpo did have a tendency to get side tracked. Unfortunately , nothing new. Did he not get the memo that no one was going to be here today? Poe looked back at the outside wall, just to be positive that he was at the right office. And sure enough, there was a plate next to the door that read “Armed Detective Agency” in bold letters.
Hesitantly, Poe poked his head through the doorway, making a quick glance around before fully stepping into the room, the motion detecting lights flickering on at his appearance.
Slowly, he gradually started to work his way into the room, setting his folders down onto the coffee table near the break area. In the long run, Poe knew that looking around the office in an attempt to find some sort of company was no use, but it wouldn’t hurt to try, right? At least that’s what he assured himself.
Turning away from the break area, Poe immediately froze in place as a rustling noise could be heard. Now normally, he wouldn't be bothered because it was probably Karl going through something he found. But said raccoon was currently nuzzled close to Poe’s neck, still perched on the said person’s shoulders and seeming quite unbothered by the whole thing. On the other hand, Poe’s head was running on overdrive. His fight or flight senses never really helped him with survival because it usually ended up in him wanting to stray as far away from the situation and escape into one of his novels (quite literally so). But somehow, seeming to regain some sort of confidence he decided the only other source action would be going to investigating what–
And then there was that damned noise again .
Now, Poe wouldn't admit it, but standing where he was, the writer was most definitely now petrified. There could be a number of things that were– whatever that thing was. And there was not a single one he thought of that he even remotely liked.
Letting out a hopeless groan, Poe dragged himself to the source of the rustling. He deduced that it was coming from one of the– maybe, perhaps three closets that the agency had. Not that he was keeping count. But lord knows why someone needed so many in a small office, in the first place.
Stopping in front of the closet, he decided that the worst case scenario is that it’s an ambush from an enemy organization. Wait– no , a dead body. Finding a corpse would be worse.
Honestly, he might as well just get this over with and quicken the pace of his soon to be doom. At least, that’s what he thought. Before he even gave himself the chance to back out, Poe grabbed the handle to the closet and opened it, not even trying to be subtle the way he jumped back once it opened a mere few inches.
To his surprise, it wasn’t a dead body or an enemy ambush.
No. It was something so much objectively worse .
“Why, hello! Funny seeing you here Mr. Writer!”
“Dazai .”
Dazai grinned stupidly, his eyes creasing. He was looking up at Poe from where he was sprawled out on the floor, no thanks to the way he crashed down on his back when the closet door was open.
Poe didn’t really know what else to do except to stare at the man with a bemused expression. “Is this some sort of, new type of suicide method?”, Poe murmured, his voice deadpan.
Dazai continued his grin, a curious glint now in his eyes. “Surprisingly to everyone here, no actually!” He tilted his head, wincing and muttering something about a “damn neck” before looking back up at Poe. “I was just bored.” He then elaborated with an attempted shrug, like that was to be any help at all.
“Pity...” Poe muttered to himself, hoping to god that Dazai hadn’t heard, thankfully the man on the floor just kept grinning, seeming oblivious to the comment.
Giving Dazai a slow nod, Poe began to step away from the body that he now confirmed: was in fact alive. “Right, I should probably, take my leave now then, I suppose since you’re here.”, Poe would admit that he did want company, but definitely not after the circumstances that falsely led him to believe there was a dead body in a closet.
Shaking his head, Dazai propped himself up on his elbows, which received a noise of interest from Poe. “Seeing as you are here, for reasons that are, at least I would say, were obvious,” He took a moment to gesture with his head to the coffee table where the pile of folders that Poe had brought with him were residing. “That being said, I could –in theory, totally hypothetical by the way–help instead.”
Poe had blinked owlishly at that, you could practically see the gears turning in his head.
“Oh.”, Was all Poe could really manage.
Snickering, Dazai pulled himself from his place on the floor, making no effort to do so without stumbling on his feet slightly. "Well, is that a yes?”
Poe made a small frown, “I feel like there’s a catch here, there always is.”
Dazai tilted his head at that, almost cat-like, “No, no catch.”
Pausing to weigh his options, Poe did consider that having someone at the very least skim the pages of his novels would be nice, even if that someone wasn’t Ranpo. But also this was Dazai. The infamous Osamu Dazai , who took great enjoyment in being a nuisance to everyone and everything around him that was in a fifty foot radius. Shifting his weight between his feet anxiously, still uncomfortably aware that Dazai was basically staring daggers through him with his hawk-like gaze, Poe let out a sigh, almost sounding like defeat, “Okay then.”
Poe swore he saw stars in the other man’s eyes.
“I still don’t get it.”
“Oh my god.”, Poe groaned in annoyance, hitting his head against the table a little too harshly, which caused him to hiss out a curse in retaliation.
Looking back up at Dazai, he let out a wavering breath before continuing. “What– What don’t you get exactly.”
Currently, they were sitting at Dazai’s desk, Dazai had insisted that Poe pull over Atsushi’s desk chair next to his. Poe honestly didn’t know why he obliged other than to make Dazai stop pestering him about it.
Karl had taken a liking to sleeping in Dazai’s lap, which Poe all but considered a betrayal on his end.
So here they were, Dazai making more offhanded comments than necessary while he read, clearly having the fullest intention to rile up the writer; while Poe did his absolute hardest to compose himself to not slap a book upon Dazai’s head out of rage.
Dazai then had the audacity to bat his eyes like a confused puppy.
Huffing, Poe practically snatched the sheet of paper Dazai was holding from his clutches. “Let me repeat myself , what don’t you understand?” It was less a question and more of a demand.
“I don’t understand the appeal of mystery novels.” Dazai shrugged, plastering a small smile upon his lips.
“Then why did you– everyone knows the majority of my writing are mysteries ? Oh what did I do in life to deserve this.”, He muttered the last part, tossing the paper he was holding somewhere onto the desk in favor of rubbing his temple. Poe swore he felt a migraine growing.
“Well to answer your first question, I was interested in your writing.” Dazai paused, making a content humming noise. Poe’s face had screwed into a hesitant expression, an eyebrow raised.
“And..?” Poe questioned.
Dazai blinked at him, tapping his chin with the pad of his pointer finger as if he was thinking intently about his answer, before letting out a gasp. “Oh, and I was bored.” He had added with fake enthusiasm .
“Of course.”, Poe muttered, exasperated. He rolled his eyes and took a glance at Dazai, whose smirk practically oozed of annoying boyish charm. Sighing, Poe waved a hand as a gesture for Dazai to continue talking.
“Okay, okay. I do admit, I did like your choice of words; and if I was even paying attention to the mystery part I probably would’ve at least got the gist of what you were going for.” Dazai nodded slightly to himself while talking, listing off things with his fingers. He continued, “Maybe change the setting. I mean, come on. A ballroom mystery? It's kind of cliche. I’ve seen tons of those–”
“You said don’t even read mysteries.” Poe cut in, deadpan.
Dazai tutted disapprovingly, “Let me continue… As I was saying before I was interrupted; but, you're the writer, and I’m not, so don't take my word for it. And for your information, I do read mysteries.”
Poe stared at him, clearly not buying it.
“Okay fine. I read one mystery. But in my defense, ballroom mysteries are really popular.” He paused. “Right?”
Poe shrugged, “Sort of. I get what you mean though; the fact it’s cliche, I mean. A lot of mysteries are though, when you think about it.” Poe shrugged again, closing his eyes. Not that Dazai could really tell from the way Poe’s messy bangs mostly covered his eyes.
“But thanks for the feedback.”, Poe murmured, opening his eyes. He crossed his arms on the table, resting his head on his arms. Poe smiled slightly when he turned his head to look at Dazai, who was currently looking over at a window, Karl still in his lap as he absentmindedly stroked the raccoon's fur. Dazai had given him piss poor attempt at praise, but to Poe it was still praise nonetheless. And he had honestly appreciated the effort, even if there wasn’t any to begin with.
The two of them stayed silent like that for a few more minutes. Though it wasn’t for certain whether they were enjoying each other’s presence like that or not.
Chewing on his lip in contemplation, Poe sighed. “Hey, I have a question.”, Poe started, lifting his head from his arms. Dazai looked over from the window.
“Go ahead then.”
“What were you doing– in the closet– anyway?” Poe asked, and he had to admit, he had been curious about the answer ever since he found Dazai earlier.
Although, Dazai just shrugged, “Dunno.”, He breathed out.
“That can’t be true.”
“Sure it can.”
Poe huffed out a laugh. “You’re strange, Dazai.”
Dazai raised his eyebrows in amusement, resting his elbow on his desk so he could lean on his hand. “Could be said the same for yourself.”
He had nodded slightly in response, resting his head back on his crossed arms; keeping his head tilted to look at Dazai, “So I’ve been told.”
Poe had huffed out another laugh in amusement. The entire situation was absurd. Honestly, it had started with him planning to go over his novels with Ranpo, but instead he had ended up with somehow finding Dazai stuffed in a closet (and he is going to find out why Dazai had been in that closet some way or another, whether persuasion or interrogation were necessary), yet when it had come to Dazai going over his novels–despite him skipping a few hundred words or so, and complaining how he didn’t understand–it felt more homely than when anyone else had looked over his work. Comforting even. Poe would even compare it to making a cup of hot cocoa and sitting in front of the fireplace with a book on a rainy night while you listen to the pitter patter of the rain falling, kind of comforting.
In hind-sight, it did feel kind of weird comparing reading novels in a messy office to that fantasy.
But he really couldn’t care less. It felt relieving bickering with someone like little kids with little to no tension in the air.
A finger snapping in front of his face is what brought Poe out of his daydream land.
Blinking, Poe glanced up at Dazai, who was grimacing at the sight. The look was sort of endearing, not that Poe would ever admit it out loud. He would rather die than do such a thing.
“Earth to Poe? Are you in there? I would prefer it if I didn't have to deal with a dead body right now.’ Dazai rambled, continuing to snap. Oblivious to the fact that Poe was now definitely not out of it due to the damn bangs that covered his eyes.
“Okay, Okay. I’m here. Geez.”, Poe swatted the hand away.
Dazai frowned, leaning forward, which caused a resting Karl to yelp and jump out of Dazai’s lap and scramble somewhere else for safety. “You really ought to trim your bangs, or at least pin them back, At least when talking to people. I really couldn’t tell if you were ignoring me or you were dead.” As he spoke, Dazai was carefully tucking Poe’s bangs to the side.
“There! Now I can see your face better.” Dazai leaned back, admiring his work with a grin. “I don’t have a pin or anything on me right now, but I would lend you one when I do.”
Poe nodded robotically, feeling his face heat up, which was painfully embarrassing. If Dazai had noticed, he didn't comment on anything. “Don’t really think you could be ignored even if someone tried. You’re an annoyance as you are a pain in the side.”
Absolutely no reason to get that worked up over a simple gesture like that. But here we are in this cruel cruel world.
“Why is seeing my face so important to you anyway?” Poe asked curiously.
Dazai hummed, “I like seeing the expressions other people make in response to me. Whether that be, disgust, anger, fear, the list goes on! That wouldn’t really work if I could only see half of your face, now would it?”
Poe had to agree.
“I can’t disagree with you there, it can help a lot in a conversation. To read the room as some might say.”
Dazai beamed. “You get me!”
Poe nodded an affirmative. “Right.”
Lifting his head, Poe surveyed the room. “Say, what time is it?”
Dazai shrugged in response, moving to spin his chair around. “No watch.”
Poe grunted in annoyance, scanning back across the room to find a wall clock.
“No use in looking for a clock, the time is probably off anyway. No one has been bothered to fix it.”, Dazai chirped, noticing how Poe was looking around the room.
“Of course it is.”, Sighing, Poe began collecting his papers that were scattered across Dazai’s desk. “You’re done with these, right?”
“Uhuh.” Dazai responded, bringing the spinning chair to a halt when he faced the desk.
“Okay.” Poe whispered, making a small pile of belongings he would take back with him.
“You know, we could always do this again.” Dazai spoke up first after the few minutes of silence, a hint of hesitance in his voice.
That had made Poe pause.
“What do you mean by that, exactly.” Poe said slowly, keeping his eyes averted.
“Like– me, you– hanging out. Or– something. Maybe dinner?”, Dazai ran a hand through his hair. “Ah, that sounds weird. I mean we would probably be going over your novels too. Surely it would be nice to have some other opinions on them as well.”
“Yes, I guess that is true. Though this is more sounding like mister Osamu Dazai is asking for a friend.” Poe pointed out, not missing the dinner invitation.
Dazai winced, “You caught me?” He laughed nervously. Poe was most definitely not used to this new nervous Dazai (although let’s be honest, he wasn’t used to Dazai to begin with) and it was certainly a sight to behold.
“Hm… Well, you have to promise to keep that dinner offer, and then I might consider it.” Poe smiled, acting as if his answer wasn’t an immediate yes, yes please I would love to .
Because he’s not lovesick or anything.
Totally.