Work Text:
Since he was a child, Edgar had been obsessed with writing and creating stories in general. At school, teachers would fill him with praises for his inventiveness and style, so he was only eight years old when he decided to start writing short tales. Of course, now that he was an adult, he looked at those stories with fondness, laughing at his own naivety.
But he wasn’t only interested in original stories. As a child and then as a teenager, he would often hyperfixate on some TV shows and, more often, to book series. Every time he finished all the available material, he would waste no time and start making up stories with the characters he loved. Sometimes he created random episodes inside the canon story, other times he invented the ending when the final book was taking too long to come out. He even put some characters in alternative universes, just for fun.
Then, one day, he discovered the word to describe this particular kind of writing: “fanfiction”. And, most of all, that there were a lot of people who wrote those online too. He found multiple websites and communities for this kind of authors, and he immediately created an anonymous account and started posting his works… and reading others.
For some reason, he was kind of ashamed of this passion and he had never told anyone about it. Especially when he became an affirmed author and a whole fanbase was born from his novels and poetry. In the States, he was pretty popular and he also had had a couple of meet-and-greet with his fans, even if he was forced by his editor to attend those. That kind of event had been one of the most stressful experiences he had ever had… and he had worked for Fitzgerald and, currently, he was in a relationship with a person that was constantly in danger because of their work.
Even as an adult, he never stopped doing that. It was some sort of guilty pleasure, something he could write for his own happiness when his days were starting to be too gloomy or when the real world would become even more inhospitable than usual. It was the healthiest coping mechanism that he had found, and that was actually a goal, considering that Edgar had had multiple problems with the use of alcohol and various drugs during his life.
However, now that his life was way more peaceful, he returned to write fanfictions just for the sake of it. Yes, he was still dealing with his depression and anxiety, but now he was going to therapy and he had someone in his life who genuinely loved him and took care of him when he was having a bad day.
So, at the moment, he was seated at his desk in the studio with his laptop opened on his favorite fanfiction’s website. Karl was curled up on his lap, occasionally rising his little head to ask for cuddles, while Ranpo was taking a nap in Edgar’s bedroom after a really tough day at work. They hadn’t actually told to their boyfriend what exactly had happened, they had just said that they needed some rest and alone time because they were too tired to even exist. But Edgar was also sure that, during dinner, the detective would have ranted and complained about it.
Because of this, the author was ready to spend the afternoon reading some stories about the series that he was currently obsessing over, something that he really didn’t want people to know because he was way too embarrassed to admit that he loved it.
Edgar refreshed the page, hoping that new material about his favorite pairing had been released and… yes, there was a new work! And it was a multichapter one too.
Wonderful, my afternoon is officially set then.
He started reading the tags, humming happily as he found some of his preferred tropes, until his eyes fell on a particular tag.
“Inspired by an Edgar Allan Poe’s work”
His brain immediately stopped working.
A work about his favorite pairing, from his current favorite show, with his favorite tags… was inspired by him?
After a whole minute of him staring with wide-open eyes at the laptop’s screen, he opened the fanfiction in another page and hesitantly clicked on the tag.
That day, Edgar Allan Poe discovered that his works were an inspiration for thousands of online fanfictions about a lot of different medias that he didn’t even know.
‘Oh, Karl’ he mumbled, and the racoon lifted his head to stare at the screen, as if could read the words on it ‘This has to be a joke’
He took the pet in his arms and immediately stood up, frenetically pacing through the room.
‘Karl, what should I do now?’ he started to ramble, without paying any attention to his tone of voice ‘I mean, this can be seen as something positive for my career as a writer, but that amount of works? Isn’t it… concerning? I don’t even know how exactly this could be a trouble, but… is it normal? Isn’t it too much?’
Sensing his distress, Karl jumped on his shoulders, rubbing his nose against Edgar’s cheek. Suddenly, the man stopped walking, startling the racoon, who sank his claws into his shoulders to keep himself steady.
A terrible, terrible image just appeared in his head.
He had tons of fans in the States, and a lot of them in the other parts of the world as well.
And Edgar knew what that meant. He buried both of his hands in his hair.
People also wrote fanfictions about real people.
The American slowly turned his face towards the laptop, like and extremely dramatic character in a cheap horror movie. As if he was approaching some kind of dangerous creature, he quietly returned to his desk and tentatively sat down on the chair. If he had to be honest, at the moment he was more anxious and kind of terrified than the time he first searched for a pornographic book in the library. Such a dreadful experience.
Hesitantly, he typed on the keyboard “Edgar Allan Poe” in the search bar.
Mon Dieu
He had forgot that, during his last trip to Boston to attend a literary convention, Ranpo had come with him. And even though he didn’t want people there to know about his personal life, a couple of persons had caught them sharing a quick kiss before Edgar’s conference. But the two fans had immediately run away and because of that, added to the fact that the conference was starting soon, he had basically forgotten about it.
And now, in front of him, there were multiple fanfictions about him and Ranpo.
While scrolling through the page, he noticed how the majority of them was set in some alterative universe, and a lot of works had explicit contents… which was extremely unsettling for him. Not that he had any problem with that kind of genre, but those stories were about him and his partner.
At the sightliest idea that someone could thing about his Ranpo like that, he could feel his blood boiling. Even though he was working on his jealousy issues, that was too much.
‘But how could I have not thought about this eventuality before?’ he sighed, leaning his head against his arm on the desk ‘Edgar, you fool, you know how those things work’
Before he could return to the screen, he heard the studio’s door opening and some tired steps, as if the newcomer was dragging their feet.
‘Ed, hon, are you okay?’ Ranpo asked, slightly slurring their words ‘I heard you freaking out from the bedroom’
Edgar immediately turned his head towards the door: Ranpo was standing on the doorframe stroking their eyes, still half-asleep, in a totally disheveled state. They were only wearing his white shirt and a pair of boxers, evidently too tired to put on an actual pajama to take their nap.
The writer stared at them with wide eyes, not even caring about his partner current appearance (that, in any other occasion, would have send him to the moon and back), and immediately closed his laptop in a panicked rush. With this, he could almost hear the grin on Ranpo’s face, who had just forgotten about their own exhaustion. Before Edgar could do anything, they scurried from the door to threw themselves on the American’s lap, making Karl climb on his head with an offended sound. It seemed that the racoon was particularly clingy that day from how he basically melted on his owner’s hair.
‘Hoooneyyy’ Ranpo chanted, amused ‘What are you hiding from the most brilliant detective on this planet?’
Edgar couldn’t hide the blush that was now spreading on his whole face, caused by a mix of having his half-naked partner on his lap and the fact that his laptop was still open on that incriminated page. He just stared at Ranpo, his mouth slightly open, but without emitting any sound.
‘Always a mysterious man, uh’ the other giggled, then they turned towards the desk and opened the laptop and inserted the password - their own birthday, how cute. At this point, Edgar didn’t even bother to stop them: when Ranpo wanted something, there was very little that he could do to stop him. Then, he literally felt the detective freezing on the spot.
‘Love, I swear, I can explain…’ he started, but he was interrupted by the other’s loud laugh.
‘Oooh, this is gonna be so fun… tell me everything, I beg you’
Edgar blinked a couple of times, confused by how could they being that serene about it. There were strangers online that wrote explicit works about them! That was so wrong.
Well, I may have written something like that myself in the past… but that was totally different! I’m not a stranger online who doesn’t actually know us!
‘Okay Ed, before you start, just know that I'm aware about you writing and reading fanfictions online’ Ranpo quickly stated, as if they could see the gears in his head turning frenetically.
‘You…’ know, Edgar was pretty sure that he could die at any moment ‘You what?’
‘Eeeed, come on!’ the other whined ‘How many times do I have to remind you that is nearly impossible to keep me in the dark about something? Obviously, I did know about that. I’ve also found and read all of your works on this site… I’m sorry, but it quite difficult to not recognize your writing style’
Probably because of Edgar’s devasted expression, they leaned to softly kiss the man, lingering there for a few seconds before pulling away, smiling: ‘I always love your stories, don’t worry. And no, I don’t find strange the fact that you write this kind of stuff too. Honestly, I think that’s one of the most normal things that I’ve ever seen you doing, you handsome freak’
Edgar buried his face onto their chest, groaning: ‘That’s so embarrassing, dear God’
He felt Ranpo’s finger slide through his hair, gently playing with his messy and curly locks, and relaxed onto the touch. Sighing, he lifted his head to face them: ‘How can I say it… I was searching for something new to read, and I may have found a work that seemed very pleasant until… uhm… I noticed that the author had stated that they were inspired by…’ he mumbled the final words, fidgeting with his fingers.
‘Ed, please, raise your voice. I’m literally on your lap and I can’t hear what you’re saying’ they asked, sneaking affectionately their arms around his neck.
‘I said’ he repeated ‘that it was inspired by one of my stories’
Ranpo’s expression lit up, smiling widely: ‘That’s amazing! Aren’t you happy about that?’
The other nodded, nervous: ‘Of course I’m happy about it. It’s so gratifying knowing that your creations are a form of inspiration for other people’
He nervously looked at the screen and Ranpo immediately reached out to caress his cheek. Edgar leaned a little onto the palm of their hand. He was feeling so stupid right now.
‘You’re embarrassed because of those’ they just stated, nodding towards the laptop.
‘Yes… it’s just… I don’t know how to feel with people creating those kinds of scenarios about us… about you’
Ranpo’s smile just became larger: ‘Are you jealous, Edgar?’
The writer bubbled something unintelligible, and the other kept laughing: ‘Ed, if I have to be honest – and you know that I always am – I really think that the jealous ones here are your crazy fans who wrote those fics. C’mon, they want to be one of us sooo bad!’
Edgar tilted his head to the side, confused, but he couldn’t say anything because Ranpo was way too enthusiastic about the whole situation.
‘You know what? We absolutely have to read one together’ they exclaimed ‘Come on, bring your laptop in your room so we can lay on the bed, I’ll go to the kitchen to take snacks’
Once again – even though he wasn’t complaining about it, it was so endearing to see his partner that excited – Edgar couldn’t manage to answer. In a couple of seconds, Ranpo had jumped off his lap and disappeared from the studio. The writer stared at the door, sighing.
‘I should learn how to say no at them, don’t you think, Karl?’
The racoon chittered from his place on his head, just annoyed by the confusion.
A few minutes later, the couple was lying on Edgar’s king-sized bed. The writer had, at least, convinced Ranpo to change their clothes, so they had accepted to wear their tanuki onesie that the author had bought to them. However, they accepted to wear it only on condition that the other would wear his own, a racoon one that the detective had given to him the following day after an exhausting shopping day with Yosano.
So, now, the two looked like a strange pile of plushies, Ranpo resting their whole body on Edgar, who had positioned the laptop on his legs in order to read it. Karl was curled up on pillow, pressed onto his owner’s shoulder, peacefully asleep.
‘Please, don’t make me read this out loud’ Edgar whined, looking at the story that Ranpo had chosen ‘I promise that I’ll read you anything you want this night before we’ll go to sleep. But this is too much even for me’
‘…Ed, the other night you read me a tale so disturbing that I couldn’t sleep at all. But porn is where you draw the line?’
‘Well, this kind of porn for sure!’ he protested, and immediately Ranpo lifted a bit their head to stare at him.
‘So, the other kinds are okay’ they purred ‘I think I’ve already chosen my bedtime story for tonight’
‘…let’s just read this now, all right?’ the other sighed.
Ranpo readjusted their position in order to sit up a little: ‘Okay, okay. Then we’ll read it in our minds and commenting it together’
Edgar nodded, nervous, and brought the laptop closer to the two. Apparently, Ranpo had chosen a story that had also some plot at the beginning, and the author was just grateful for it. Beside him, the detective was giggling and they kept pointing at the screen without actually saying anything, too busy with laughing. On his side, Edgar was just cringing at the terrible writing style and was desperately trying to glue some other faces on the protagonists of the story. Obviously, it wasn’t working.
Until now, just Edgar’s character had appeared, and it was so embarrassing reading about him being some kind of mysterious playboy that he seriously wanted to bury himself in the pillow.
But, suddenly, Ranpo stopped laughing. Their fictional version had come to the scene.
And, well… they weren’t exactly like the original, even less than fictional Edgar.
They were way less smart. Like, a lot. They were the plainest love interest in history and, most of all, they were acting around the writer just like some kind of desperate fangirl. After a couple of sentences, the two found out that fictional Ranpo was actually a fan of the other’s books. Even though the real detective was a fan of their boyfriend’s works, they weren’t that pathetic. And their whole person didn’t revolve around praising the other in an almost disturbing way.
Then, a particular line totally broke Ranpo.
‘What!? Are you joking!?’ they basically shouted, and Edgar flinched a little before turning his gaze to take a look to their face. The detective had a disgusted expression on their face, their beautiful green eyes wide open like the author had never seen before, their pack of chips completely forgotten.
‘It’s not true that I created my own name based on yours! Who would ever do a thing like that?’ they kept rambling, incredulous
‘Ours names are indeed pretty similar’ the other commented, smiling a little at his partner’s indignation.
Ranpo turned their face to Edgar, offended: ‘Yeah, but it’s obviously just a coincidence, c'mon!’
At this point, the writer chuckled: ‘This is quite romantic, if you think about it. It's almost as if we were linked by destiny and…’
The detective interrupted him, pretending to puke: ‘Ugh, Ed’
‘All right, all right. Do you want to keep reading, dear?’
They snorted, looking at the laptop: ‘At this point, I’m just curious to see how bad this can be’
It took just a minute to Ranpo to basically throwing themselves at the laptop, red in the face: ‘I would never say something like that! Who the fuck those people think I am!? I’m not a whiney little thing!’
Even though it was clear that the detective was feeling outraged by their representation, Edgar couldn’t help but laugh at the scene in front of him. He respected his partner emotions very much, but it was difficult to take them seriously when they were wearing a tanuki-shaped pajama. They were just so adorable right know, and the man was trying to hold back from interrupting their rant by hugging them and fill them with kisses.
‘Oh god, they really are just a pathetic loser!’ they snorted, incredulous ‘I mean… look at this! They keep saying how small they are and oh no, mister Poe’s clothes are too big for me! His sweater is like a dress on me!’
Actually, Edgar enjoyed a lot their size difference, he adored seeing Ranpo in his clothes. But he decided that saying something like that right now wasn’t a great idea. But he still couldn’t stop laughing while staring at them.
‘You can’t laugh, Edgar! This is just… insulting! I’m an esteemed and genius detective, not this… dumb and useless thing’
‘My dear’ he started to say, trying to stop his laugh ‘You have to admit that whoever wrote this doesn’t know you, it was almost impossible for a stranger to guess your personality’
‘Don’t try to defend them’ they replied ‘Still, I’m an adult, and in this I’m acting like a child’
Edgar glanced at the open page: ‘I think we’re arrived at the explicit part… do you really want to keep going?’
‘No’ the other grunted, crossing their arms.
The writer sighed, actually really glad to stop with that torture, and closed the laptop before moving it on his nightstand. Then, he returned to completely lay on the bed, looking up to his still sitting partner, and he lazily lifted his hand to caress their arm.
‘What if we just cuddle a little, my esteemed and genius detective?’ he proposed, smiling fondly at them.
Ranpo glared at him, as if they were contemplating on the idea: ‘…Fine’
They curled up against Edgar, who wrapped his arms around them, humming happily, and slowly drawing circles against their back putting just a little bit of pressure.
‘You’re so amazing, my dear. What those strangers think about you is absolutely false and irrelevant’ he whispered, kissing the top of their head.
‘That obvious! You’re saying this just because your fictional version was some kind of charming, brilliant and super-hot dude’ they muttered, their face half-hidden on Edgar’s chest.
‘Hmm? Are you implying that I’m not enough charming, brilliant and… “super-hot” for you, love?’ he asked, teasingly, with his mouth pressed on the other’s hood.
Ranpo immediately raised their head, hitting the man’s chin: ‘I’m not saying this!’
Edgar glared at them, rubbing his chin. But, before he could reply, the detective was softly pressing their lips on his, and he just melted into the kiss, sighing against Ranpo’s mouth. Then, they moved a little in order to stare at his eyes.
‘Did this convince you?’ they asked, smiling.
‘Not really’ Edgar grinned, and the detective grunted as a reply.
‘You know, I think you should be the one to spoil me’ they muttered, and the other just laughed, lifting his head a little to kiss their forehead.
‘As you wish, my dear’