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Ranpo entered a well-lit hospital, it was a late Monday morning around 10 am, moreover, he was off to visit a woman that had been hurt in an attack that happened a few days ago as she had regained consciousness last night and was deemed stable enough for an interview. A group of ability users wrecked the streets of Yokohama during the weekend for no apparent reason injuring many people in the process.
They were still looking for some of them and trying to piece together a story so they hoped the woman could help them. That's why Kunikida sent Ranpo to get her statement as he could understand it the best even if she held back some information. They didnt suspect she would but Ranpo was the only available one, whatever the reason he didnt protest too much seeing how busy everyone was with the recent attack.
Ranpo disliked hospitals, it reminded him of death and bad news, all the times his friends ended up there or all the people he couldn't save, it brought some bad memories plus the atmosphere creeped him out.
The detective walked thru the halls trying to keep eyes in front of him as the nurses and doctors rushed by, the hospital was busy due to the attack as it was the closest one many people were taken here, it smelt of cleaning products, blood, and old people, all smell Ranpo disliked.
Ranpo turned a corner walking as fast as he could when a voice called out to him
‘’Excuse me, mister…’’ a small child pulled at his shirt looking up at Ranpo, she looked frail and sick, way too pale, and eyebags too prominent for someone her age.
‘’Yes? Why are you alone?’’ He tried to sound as nice as he could but his voice betrayed him
The girl sniffed and tears pooled in her eyes ‘’I... I was looking for my mommy’’
She started sobbing mid-way thru her words.
‘’She said she would go somewhere but it's been a long she’s not back yet im scared‘’
The girl couldn't have been older than five and Ranpo was lost for what to do, in some ways she reminded him of himself
‘’I have something I need to do but um, do you wanna look for your mom together?’’
The girl wiped her face and looked up at Ranpo nodding and sniffing
‘’Up!’’
‘’What, you want me to carry you?’’
‘’Im tired’’
Ranpo signed and took a small child in his arms, what else could he do to make her walk all over the hospital barefoot? He wasn't a monster, and he felt bad for her he hated hospitals she couldn't have been a big fan either.
Realistically Ranpo didnt plan on looking for her mom all over the hospital instead just find a nurse or a doctor that wasn't preoccupied and hopefully they could take her back to wherever she came from. It wasn't that Ranpo disliked children he just didnt know how to act with them often finding them quite ominous.
The small child clung to im tightly arms tightly clutching his shirt and legs wrapped around his waist as her head rested on his shoulder, she was at least calm. Ranpo walked down the hallway he just came from and found a nurse in an opened-door room without a patient. He explained to her what happened and she gladly took the kid reassuring Ranpo she would take her back to her room, apparently she’s been in the hospital for a few days now coming down with some weird sickness, and was finally getting better.
Ranpo was glad the girl was better but as much as he would like(not) to chat he excused himself as he did come here for a reason. The woman he was supposed to meet was very lovely and talkative for someone in her state, it wasn't hard getting her statement and reporting it back to Kunikida in no time.
She explained how she and her kids were on their way back from a grocery run when an explosion had gone off at the end of the street, she got scared and tried running to the nearest shop she saw but the explosions continues up towards them and with no time she rushed her children in the nearest alleyway but she couldn't get far away and was, unfortunately, injured by an explosion.
She didnt give him any valuable information but it made Ranpo sad, she clearly loved her kids very much and was very pleasant to talk to, she took a liking to Ranpo and even offered for him to come over sometime for tea after she got better, but he politely declined even tho he would've loved to.
Rest of the day he had nothing to do as the others handled the rest of the case and any other business they had. That night he went to bed with itching in his throat and heaviness in his bones making sleep come to him easy.
Tuesday morning arrived and Ranpo woke up with a pounding headache and overall weakness, it hurt to do anything, brushing his teeth was painful his gums ached, and he couldn't eat much of the breakfast Edgar made which clearly worried him but he didnt push much seeing Ranpo was clearly in pain, he felt like death.
It didnt take a detective to realize he was sick but he couldn't take time off work today, he had to go with Dazai and Kunikida to investigate a possible hideout of the attackers they needed Ranpo to be sure they were at the right place, normally he would insist on staying home but he couldn't forget the woman from yesterday she was so nice to him despite being complete strangers he needed to find who was responsible for this and hopefully put the woman at ease, Ranpo never got so attached to someone but she really brought a sense of calm to him he wishes he accepted that tea offer.
Edgar tried stopping him from leaving insisting he stays home but Ranpo was stubborn and Edgar knew there was no point fighting it so he let him go with a sigh and some cold medicine. At the agency, Yosano tried to make him go home or at least stay at the office seeing he was clearly sick. He was pale and he was constantly coughing, he even refused a doughnut Atsushi brought but he insisted on going with the pair claiming that the job would get done faster and that its better to have 3 people than two in case something does wrong.
They agreed as they were unable to say no to him in these situations Ranpo was very stubborn, so the three of them went on. The lead they got was from one of the witnesses saying how they saw the group of ability users that wrecked the streets run into an old rundown building at the far end of the city.
The building was old seemingly never even finished. They investigated the place up and down at least three times but no one was there, no one and nothing, they didnt expect to find anything but it was always good to check a potential hideout especially this secluded as it was in front of a big forest.
Before leaving Dazai wanted to take a stroll thru the forest behind the old building saying the group may have left clues if they did change locations recently. Ranpo still felt like shit his legs were barely working and he was sure he had a slight fever but he wasn't going to complain when he was the one that insisted on going, instead, he opted to stay back and wait for them rather than investigate the area claiming he would keep a lookout in case someone came by.
He sensed no danger near, he trusted his instinct even if he wasn't the most focused due to the sickness so he found a nice area even if it was all the same, and sat down. It was dirty but he didnt mind as long as he didnt have so stand. His whole body was on fire but he felt so cold, his head was pounding and he couldn't keep his eyes open so he just gave up and let them fall closed so they can rest, just resting his eyes yes.
When the duo came back they found Ranpo sitting on the ground leaning against the building wall seemingly asleep and when they tried to shake him awake he just grumbled and told them to go away, and on top of it he was burning up. They got reasonably worried and decided to take him back immediately even tho they had some other plans after, they knew the other detective was sick but still didnt offer help the whole day as they watched him run around trying to find anything, that definitely didnt help his current situation.
At the agency Yosano took the sick man in and laid him in a hospital bed as he needed rest, there wasn't much she could do at the moment he wasn't sick enough for an IV, injections, or anything similar, all she could do was let him rest and call Poe to take him back home.
When he came to the agency he was extremely panicked explaining how he shouldn't have let him leave the house this morning because he was obviously not feeling well and whatnot.
Yosano understood how frustrating it could be dealing with Ranpos stubbornness and reassured Poe there was nothing he could've done, she gave him some medication Ranpo should take when he woke up and they had a brief conversation before the writer took Ranpo in his arms and carried him back down and in a taxi still waiting for him.
Back at their place, Edagr had tucked Ranpo in bed, he knew the other had woken up by then many times but just didnt want the others to know so he just didnt say anything, he was likely awake right now.
‘’Ranpo dear, please sit up a bit you need to take the medicine Yosano gave you, you'll feel better then, I also made you tea cmon get up’’
Edgar called the other as he still pretended to be asleep but he could tell by his breathing he was not. The writer signed and lightly shook the detective
‘’Cmon you can sleep after Ranpo dear, please’’
If Ranpo was difficult when healthy it was doubled when he was seriously sick, Edgar didnt mind it he loved taking care of the other even if it took some time, as long as his lover wasn't at risk he could deal with whatever he needed. Ranpo grumbled and sat up lightly mumbling
‘’My everything hurts’’ he took the pills and a cup of tea the other was holding hesitantly drinking it all in one go.
‘’Can you make me the soup I like’’ he asked going back to lying down and pulling the blanket all the way up to his chin, his voice was quiet, and his throat likely hurt he didnt wanna damage it further
‘’Yeah of course’’ He ran his fingers thru the other's hair pushing it out of his face. With that he leaves the other to rest and goes to prepare the meal, it was not often Ranpo asks for something not snacky so this is an opportunity to get some vegetables in him.
Ranpo slept soundly for at least two hours waking up feeling a bit better enough that he didnt wanna die every waking second. He wrapped himself in a blanket and dashed for the kitchen slash living room to find Edgar, he saw him sitting on the couch watching some weird drama they both got invested in and that just wouldn't do.
Ranpo needed to know if Clair’s gonna get back with Kevin as much as he did! Ranpo silently went over and jumped, as much as he could jump, on Edgar's lap knocking the air out of his lung and making him wheeze. He coughed a bit and lightly pulled Ranpo off of him
‘’I see you're better, how can you be so sick and such an asshole’’
‘’Im, not an asshole you left me alone in there, an ill man left alone to die alone you dont even love me’’ He huffed and brought his knees to his chest wrapping them in the blanket as well
‘’No I dont love you, you hurt me’’ Edgar got up bringing back a bowl of soup so Ranpo could eat.
‘’Here’s your meal like the prince requested’’ He said with a straight face staring Ranpo down and the other huffed
‘’Since when do you complain about taking care of me, this soup is so bland you could've added some of that spice from the chips like the crumbs, for the flavor you know’’ The soup was good, they both knew it was just funnier to bicker about it
‘’Is that why you're eating it so fast?’’
‘’Mhm!’’ Ranpos mouth was full of the remaining soup already finished it
‘’I ate it as fast as possible so I dont have to taste it again’’ He smiled laying back on the couch and coughing lightly resting his head on Edgar’s shoulder
‘’Too bad there's more left...’’
‘’Hmm maybe I need to get rid of that too later’’
‘’Maybe’’ They continued watching the show until Karl decided to pay them a visit laying down in the writer's lap
‘’How did you even get sick, was it from the hospital?’’
‘’Mmm yeah, some little girl came up to me saying she lost and demanded I find her mom because im such a great detective so I picked her up because I wouldn't let a sick little kid walk and I guess she was contagious ‘’
‘’Yeah what a great detective, didnt know you were so good with kids’’
‘’Im not she cried her way into my heart and arms, it is a bad look to leave a crying kid in the middle of a busy hospital’’
Edgar chuckled ‘’Or maybe you just felt bad and wanted to help?’’
‘’You’ll never know’’
Ranpo smiled petting Karl who slept soundly on Edgar's lap, before coming into the living room he saw the raccoon unrolling the toilet paper and shredding it t but that went unmentioned.
They spent the rest of the night leaning on each other watching TV with Ranpo occasionally dozing off and having fever dreams which Edfar found pretty funny as he would occasionally mumble nonsense or jerk awake telling him how Karl became huge and started chasing him.
The next day Ranpo didnt try to go to work, he felt a lot better but he was still sick. He didnt tell Edgar and made the writer fuss over him the whole day but the other didn't mind as needy as Ranpo was he loved him and would rather him be slightly annoying than suffer in silence, like this he could make him eat proper meals and catch up on their stupid show. They both liked spending time together away from everyone and if it meant Ranpo half lying about his condition he would!