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It was a calm, summer day in the city of Yokohama. The birds were singing their cheerful songs accompanied by the soft rustle of the leaves in the warm breeze. The laughter of children playing could be heard from the park as a certain master detective and doctor walked by.
In the agency it was a surprisingly uneventful day – in Ranpo’s opinion boring – so he got out for a quick snack shopping tour to his favourite store, and since his sense of direction was horrible and also because she also wanted to get out from the office, Yosano decided to escort him.
They were walking down the street, Ranpo talking about what snacks he wants to have and how little of that he can actually afford with his salary while Yosano was talking about a particularly gruesome – in her opinion interesting – corpse from an earlier case. Neither of them really paid much attention of what the other was talking about but it didn’t bother them at all.
They were about to turn in at a corner when Ranpo thought he heard a familiar little squeak. He turned around and sure enough there was a raccoon running up to him.
“Hey Karl” Ranpo crouched down greeting the raccoon with a scratch behind the ear when he caught up to him. He then raised his head and looked around “Where’s your owner?” He asked when he realised, he couldn’t see the tall, lean figure of his friend which Ranpo found weird since he knew Karl was always with Poe and if one was there the other also has to be nearby.
As an answer Karl chittered which Ranpo thought sounded worried. Karl then turned around and started towards the park. He then stopped and looked back at the detective. He wanted to be followed, and that’s what Ranpo did.
The raccoon jogged back to the park, Ranpo trying to keep up with him while his brain came up with different scenarios of what could’ve happened. 'Something must have happened. Is he being lured into a trap? Unlikely. Maybe a surprise?' He threw that idea away too. 'Or maybe Poe just took a walk and got overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the city? That was a possibility.' Ranpo couldn’t help a tingle of nervousness creeping into his throat. Or was it just that he really wasn’t used of running and was out of breath?
Suddenly Karl stopped in front of a bush and squeaked again loudly. Ranpo crouched down looking under the plant finally knowing what was up. As he observed, he couldn’t help the smile stretching his lips.
Something rustled the lower leaves of the bush. Something was under the bush and that something was furry. It was another raccoon curled up in the shadow. The lower half of its face was hidden by its tail while its eyes were covered by its fur. When it saw Ranpo, it let out a little squeak and curled up into an even smaller ball of fur, now hiding its entire face behind its tail.
“Hi Poe-kun!” Ranpo greeted his author-turned-into-raccoon friend with a giggle. “You look cute.” The raccoon – Poe – chittered in what seemed to be embarrassment and Ranpo couldn’t help another chuckle to escape, not like he tried to hold it in to tell the truth.
“Come out from there and let’s go home!” the detective tried but Poe just chittered again and shook his head. Karl then climbed under the bush and tried to drag his owner out by his ear but it only earned a loud squeal from the other raccoon. Ranpo found it absolutely adorable.
He stood up with an exaggerated sigh and started to walk away from the bush. “Come, Karl! Let’s grab a snack.” Ranpo announced and Karl ran after him, abandoning his owner in his hiding place.
It didn’t take more than ten seconds and the master detective heard an offended squeak from behind and a moment later he felt claws climbing up on his back. Poe positioned himself on Ranpo’s shoulder the way Karl usually does, who was walking by his side, but now looked jealous.
Poe also sensed Karl’s jealousy and instead jumped down into Ranpo’s arm, giving up his seat on the detective’s shoulder to the other raccoon. Ranpo just laughed as he walked to the fortunately close gate of the park to catch up to Yosano.
The moment he stepped out, Ranpo instantly noticed her waiting at the corner, head turning around, looking for her friend. Her arms were crossed, phone in one hand while she was mumbling something under her nose.
“Yosano-sensei” Ranpo yelled as he approached her. She turned towards him and Ranpo froze at Yosano’s burning glare.
“Where did you go, you moron?” she shouted “ You wanted to go to the shop. What were you thinking, just walking away like that especially without your phone on you.” Yosano scolded her coworker.
Ranpo needed a moment before he could stutter out a word. His face was red from the embarrassment of being scolded on the street. When he collected himself all he could say was “I have my phone” on a low tone.
“No, you don’t.” Yosano retorted “I called you.”
“Yes, I do!” Ranpo argued back and reached for his phone in his pocket only to feel it empty. Now his face took up the colour of a tomato. Only then did Yosano notice the unreasonably high number of raccoons on her friend.
“Didn’t know you were such a raccoon magnet.” She joked, the earlier anger absent from her voice. “If someone, I thought it would be your boyfriend.” Yosano continued with a sly smile. The raccoon in Ranpo’s arm chittered somehow sounding like it was denying the statement while Ranpo himself just softly petted raccoon-Poe's head and laughed.
With more lighthearted conversation and joking they made it to the shop, then since it was a useless day at work, Ranpo decided to go home to his apartment after he got back his phone from the agency. Surprisingly nobody noticed his two raccoon companions, but everyone was busy sleeping or occupying their mind in some way or another.
When they got home Karl jumped off Ranpo’s shoulder to take his favourite pillow on the couch while Poe took a seat on the kitchen counter, watching Ranpo get the bought snacks out of the bags but only a very few making it into the cupboards. He chittered and Ranpo was one hundred percent sure he said he should eat more actual food.
“Don’t act like your eating habits are so good Mr. Forgot-to-eat-for-three-days-because-of-writing.” Ranpo pouted. Poe squeaked again in embarrassment like he was saying ‘That was one time’.
Suddenly Karl also jumped on the counter and he was demanding food. Ranpo looked around in the kitchenette. His eyes landed on a few peaches in a bowl. A day ago Kenji brought fruits he received from his hometown to everyone and while Ranpo was not the biggest fan of healthy food, he couldn’t resist the sweet scent of the peaches.
He washed and cut one up and put it on a small plate for the two raccoons on the counter while he bit into another, the sweet juice dripping down on his chin.
He barely finished his peach when something gray jumped on him and started licking his face. Ranpo laughed from Karl’s tongue tickling his face. Poe on the other hand looked betrayed and jealous, one violet eye glinting behind his fur bangs. Ranpo couldn’t not notice the other’s reaction and his laughter hardened until tears welled in the corners of his eyes.
When he was done, Karl jumped to the floor and casually walked away like nothing happened. Ranpo then patted Poe’s head. “C’mon, you know I love you more.” he whispered and kissed his furry forehead before leaving to change to more comfortable clothes.
He decided to also take a shower since it was a hot summer day. He took his time, enjoying the water stream as even he was not immune to the magic of shower that never lets you leave once you are in.
By the time he escaped the enchant of the shower, almost an hour passed. He threw on some shorts and a baggy t-shirt and walked back to the couch. What he saw there made his breath hitch and his heart to skip a beat.
Both Karl and Poe were sleeping which was a miracle in itself knowing the author’s non-existing sleeping habits. But what was adorable was that the two raccoons were cuddling. They curled up together, tails covering each other, Poe’s head resting on his paws, his bangs sliding to the side revealing his cute little sleeping face, while Karl’s head laid on his owner’s back. Now that the two were so close to each other Ranpo noticed that Poe’s fur was a more brownish shade not like Karl’s completely gray.
Ranpo almost screamed out of cuteness but somehow held himself back. However, he gathered his phone from where he left it faster than the speed of light and took like a million photos from every angle possible.
He then spent the next hour on the couch, phone in his right hand, sorting out which photos were good and which ended up a bit blurry, while his left hand rested on the two sleeping furballs.
The evening went on just as calm as the afternoon. At some point both raccoons woke up but stayed in the same position. Ranpo tried to shoot a few more pictures like that but only earned embarrassed chitters from Poe begging him to stop.
Around half past ten, after nodding off for the nth time, Ranpo finally decided to sleep. He barely laid down on his futon when he felt a warm body by his side and heard a jealous squeak. Looking down, he found Poe by his side curled up in a ball the same way and place Karl usually sleeps, while at the doorway stood the aforementioned, betrayed-looking raccoon.
Ranpo couldn’t help a soft laugh escaping him at how silly these two sometimes were.
“Come here Karl, there’s enough place for you too.” At the encouragement the soft pitter-patter of Karl’s paws could be heard before he also laid down on the other side of Ranpo.
Falling asleep, the last thought that crossed Ranpo’s mind was that he felt like he was sleeping with a bunch of plushes in his bed.
The morning came a lot sooner than it was legal and with a groan Ranpo opened his eyes. Only then did he realise, what he woke up was not the morning sun shining directly into his face but the gray ball of fur sitting on his chest, demanding breakfast.
“It’s too early.” Ranpo groaned and tried to fall back asleep but another demanding squeak came from Karl forcing the man to get up. “Okay, okay, I’m up.” Ranpo mumbled after suppressing a yawn. He sat up, Karl jumping off his chest, already running to the kitchenette.
As he got up, Ranpo acknowledged that raccoon-Poe was still sound asleep. He caressed his head then followed the other animal.
He cut up another peach for Karl while he ate some overly sugary cereal, sitting on the couch, not really watching whatever was on TV.
Suddenly a shriek interrupted the peace of the morning, but not really Ranpo who already knew what – who – it was and was actually expecting it.
In his bedroom, under the blanket was a bundle a lot bigger than a raccoon, around the size of a 182 cm man. Ranpo chuckled and pulled off the cover from where he guessed his now human again (boy)friend’s head was.
“Good morning, Poe-kun~!” Ranpo greeted him in a sing-song voice. The visible part of Poe’s face was bright red from embarrassment as he looked up at the other with one violet eye.
“Finally, you turned back into a human” Ranpo announced cheerfully “Though you looked cute as a raccoon too.” he continued with a teasing smirk, green eyes glinting in the light. “Now get up and let’s have breakfast.”
“Rampo...” Poe tried in a shy tone.
“Karl already ate and I’m pretty sure he also wants to see his owner.” Ranpo continued like he didn’t hear the other.
“Rampo!”
“By the way, yesterday I left work early so Kunikida will surely keep me in longer.” he kept on talking, now with an annoyed pout on his face.
“RAMPO!” Poe yelled which finally made the younger quiet. Ranpo already knew what will come next but he let Poe stutter and struggle with his words which flowed so naturally on paper but came so hard in real life. “C-can you lend me some clothes?”
“I don’t know, can I?” Ranpo answered with a smirk as he looked down at Poe’s burning red face.
Actually, Ranpo already had some of Poe’s clothes (the ones he once left his mansion wearing since his own got ruined by a bottle of soda) prepared in the small bathroom, but Poe doesn’t have to know it yet.