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Chapter Text

Danny didn't like to think of himself as a pessimist. Sure he had small bouts of depression and a couple of burst of anger that would pop up from time to time but those moments didn't dictate his mindset or life in the grander scheme of things.

However sitting on the curb in the dead of night, staring blankly ahead at the plethora of shadows under red and blue lights. Scratching absently at the scraps of dried blood on his wrist, and tuning out the uniformed women trying to get information out of him.

Danny hated his life.

Truly, he could not think of a single good thing in his messed up life that would make this BS worth living through.

Was he being a bit dramatic? That was neither here nor there.

But the fact of the matter was that Danny would never be able to get a full night's rest without recalling the blood curdling screams, the desperate expression of the women's face as she tried to hide her kid under her, and the haunting laughter following when that expression went blank.

"-llo, Helllooo misterr, this guy deaf or something?"

Danny jolted a bit as a new voice appeared above him. He looked up just in time to see a dark haired man being smacked upside by a guy with the most atrocious grey haircut Danny had ever seen.

"You shouldn't go around asking witnesses if they're deaf Ranpo" He scolded, before directing his attention back to Danny, multi-colored eyes shimmering with concern. "Hey, my name is Atsushi, we're here to help-"

"Unless we find out that you're involved-"

"We are here to help" Atsushi repeated a bit more firmly, glaring at his partner.

Danny finally found his voice.

"Listen, I'll tell you what you want to know but it's not gonna be much help, I was barely involved"

"Reports say you pushed the culprit before more shots could be fired?"

"Exaggerated. I stumbled into him after freaking the hell out and he misfired"

"A little girl was saved today thanks to you."

Danny semi-glared up at the guy, this wasn't some matyr scenario and he was, quite frankly, a bit pissed off at the implication. "I didn't do anything." Standing up with shaky legs and putting his hands in pockets in faux nonchalance he continued "Now if that will be all gentlemen, I'll just be heading home then."

"Not so fast there bud, this won't take long." The dark haired man stepped directly in front of him looking slightly up with a smug look. Danny blinked, finally noticing the man's strange appearance, he was dressed like some boot-leg detective and he looked way too amused for Danny's liking. Also were his eyes closed?

Knockoff Sherlock held his hand out "Names Ranpo, best detective of in this generation and I'll be able to crack this if you stay for.. oh about 3 more minutes or so."

Oho Danny already HATED this guy. He simply took a step back with an expectant gaze, not bothering to return the handshake. Not that it mattered cuz the guy simply shrugged and shook his own hand with a satisfied hum. Before stepping into Danny's space. Again.

What a fucking weirdo.

" I don't know-"

"Don't talk." Ranpo interrupted, examining him for a moment or two with that same stupid amused look. He then took out a pair of glasses and slowly put them on without looking away from Danny.

If the brunette was begrudgingly surprised by how pretty those green eyes were when they finally opened that was absolutely no one's business but his own.

Ranpo stares into his soul for a few more seconds before smirking. "Here's what happened, there were five hostages lined up on the floor with our friend here being the last. The culprit got the first two shots in" Ranpo held out finger guns out and enunciated "Bang. Bang."

Danny resisted the urge to flinch with the memories, staring straight back, to hell if he was going some cosplayer detective get to him.

Ranpo continued "first two hostages are down, and he moves on to the next two, a mother, and her poor little child. The man is enraged I'm sure, screaming at the negotiators about whatever and the 3rd hostage takes this chance to get in front of her kid, no doubt begging for salvation. No luck. Bang.

"That's when this guy made his move, his shoes prints inside tell the whole story."

His mouth was still turned up but his eyes showed no signs of joy as he turned to his partner, finally giving Danny a second to breathe and slump forward a little, when had he got so stiff?

" He ran, but towards the girl. Be it subconsciously or not that's what happened. His actions made the shooter step back in the clearing of a sniper who immobilized him. Then we were here"

Danny gulped, his mouth feeling a bit dry at the accuracy, but there was one thing nagging at him so he pushed his voice to come out again. Bringing both detectives attention back to him.

"Congrats you gathered the full story from the scene and reports, that's good and all. Why do you need this information? I doubt self proclaimed hotshots are here to tell us what we already know, why are you here?"

If his blood didn't run cold by the words following he would feel satisfied by the way Ranpos face replaced that arrogant look with a grimace.

"Um.. yeah the guy escaped."

"He escaped?!?"

"... Yeah"

A laugh of disbelief escaped Danny's lips as his mind whirled around to grasp that the murderer he unknowingly thwarted was still out there. "So somehow this guy escaped even though we've literally been surrounded by police?"

Atsushi and Ranpo shared a glance and seemed to be telepathically communicating before Atsushi decided to speak up.

"This guy.. he isn't normal. We can't explain it properly to you on terms of um, confidentiality, but we've been following humbo- the culprit for a while now."

Danny balked " OK.. cool, cool. Cool. And does the culprit have a history of revisiting escaped victims?"

Atsushi's look said it all.

Danny was going to be sick.

"I'm a dead man."

"No you're no-"

" A total goner, I haven't even finished Spiderman 2."

" Hey listen-"

" deady, deadified, dead from the neck up, dead from the neck do-"

Two firm hands grabbed his shoulders and shook him. Hard.

" Put your head back on, you're not going to die you idiot."

Ranpo posed in a way that looked eerily similar to sailermoon. "You'll have the best babysitters around to watch over you."

"..."

Danny was either going to die or he was going kill himself.

Chapter Text

Ranpo found the new guy to be somewhat amusing.

It's been about a week and a half since they invited their traumatized guest to the agency and if he was being honest with himself.. Ranpo was having a freaking blast. Why you may ask?

Danny loathed him. And a loathed-filled Danny was a really funny Danny apparently.

Like right now for example.

"ALL YOU GOT TO DO IS GO UP THE THE TRAIN PERSON, PAY FOR A TRAIN TICKET, AND GET ON THE TRAIN YOU ABSOLUTE MAN-CHILD. Wait, no, I'm sorry,, children acTUALLY KNOW HOW TO RIDE ON A TRAIN!"

Ranpo just silently swayed in his seat as he looked up at the enraged brunette pacing around and contemplated how to further rile the man up. "Look, so what if I don't work my way around public transportation, I'm literally the best detective in the world" Ranpo tapped his head and added a lilt to his voice, " It can't all possibly fit up here."

He had to contain his laugh at the way Danny physically bristled.

This all started with a specific game plan the agency had in mind.

The person that they have been trying to catch for the past month has once again slipped through their fingers, much to Ranpo's dismay. Humboldt's ability was called Dissipating Flame. It allowed him to create a smokey mist that got into people's eyes, creating some illusion that they caught him, only for it do disappear, along with Humboldt. What pissed the detective off even more than the relentless chase was the fact that Humboldt was a dolt. If Ranpo had a power like that and hated the world he'd like, dominate it. But noo, all this for a murdering robber with a revenge vendetta. How boring.

They told Danny as much as soon as they felt the initial shock wore off, which he took... surprisingly well. When asked why he wasn't freaking out the man simply rolled his eyes. " I've seen the broken buildings and car's flying in this city, y'all are as subtle as batman. Now tell me, that whole helicopter crash over the bridge thing, y'all did that right.. cause objectively, that would be pretty sick."

So, yeah.

The arrangement after a lot of negotiations was for Danny to stay with the detective industry during the day, while the detective agency takes turns staking out by his house when he goes home. In case any villain decides to pop up. It was a flimsy and unproductive plan in Ranpos opinion but he guessed eccentric ideas had to be used when they were trying to catch a guy who's literal power was to not get caught.

It was atleast interesting to see the Danny had reacted to other members of the guild when he first came. Despite the fact that he witnessed a murder and was being chased by said murderer that still didn't stop the man from blurting out "oh my God, kiss." Within five minutes of meeting Dazai and Kunikida. To their faces.

Reactions were varied. Suddenly, Ranpo's new form of entertainment became seeing Danny's reaction to his wayward friends.

Atsushi got along with everybody, so it was no shock that he and Danny's relationship was amiable, if not a bit stilted and awkward. Ranpo could only equate it to meeting the friend of the actual friend you were originally planning on spending time with. It got less stilted when Danny got to see the grey heads tiger paws. Awkwardness tends to leave once one party will not let go of the other's hand for nearly an hour.

Ranpo noticed that junichiro and Danny had warmed up to eachother almost immediately, spouting factoids about mortal kombat characters. Then a certain sister showed up and the way Danny's face contorted in morbid realization had Ranpo on the floor. Needless to say the brunette decided to keep his distance from the light-snow ability user since then.

"Another one bites the dust" He had heard Junichiro mutter miserably as his sister sat on his lap to cuddle.

The reaction to Miyazawa was predictable, Danny looked 5 seconds away from laughing at the poor boy before giving him a pat on the head for being the quote on quote 'absolute strongest little farm boi, Tom Sawyer got nothing on ya'. The detective could easily understand that one.

A surprising one was Akiko, who actually garnered the most respect out of the brunette, including a respectful distance. Ranpo would have to ask about it.

He'll get to it eventually.. as soon as the man in question stopped hating him enough to actually spark a conversation.

Now don't get it twisted, Ranpo had his fair share of foes and genuinely felt unbothered by any annoyance towards him. It was different with Danny, the detective actually enjoyed the attention, and the reactions. And maybe he thought about that attention being shown in a more positive light these past few days. And mayybe he's kinda aiming for it.

Which brings us back to the present.

"Ohoho you think you're such a hotshot well I got news for you bud-"

"You're going to be tagging along with me for a mission today"

Danny paused, face falling in confusion "uh.. I am?"

"Yes-sir-ee, it's a low stake job, too low for me too waste anyone else's time here. One doesn't need abilities for what we're about to do."

"OK first of all Fuck you too, and second, why would I?"

"The prez said somebody should keep an eye on you at all times and last I checked" Ranpo made a scene of looking around. "No one's here but me. Also we could use the fresh air, I'm soo cramped in here"

Danny took a moment to contemplate.

"Ok"

Ranpo didn't waste a second. He jumped out of his chair and dragged the brunette outside by the wrist, ignoring the cute sputtering.

Once he enlisted the help of his person to ride the bus. ( Danny didn't say anything, just looked extremely disconcerted the whole time) they headed to the downtown center alley.

Ranpo was a straightforward type of person, and he could deduce lot's of thing's. And after everything that happened since he met the president and joined the agency, he had a good knowing of his feelings.

He liked the guy a bit, and he wanted Danny to like him back.

What better way to do that than to solve a mystery?

Chapter Text

Have you ever had that feeling that your initial judgement of a person was a bit off base but your intent has already been made clear so you have to stick to it for the sake of your pride?

The problem with Danny was that he was a prideful man.

And by god if he was going to admit to being wrong he's going to need more damned evidence than a warm fuzzy feeling.

His original thoughts were fairly simple and if he had to point out, accurate. He thought that Ranpo was a cocky know-it-all with no censor. He was right. He thought that Ranpo was astute but didn't have a showy power to back it up like the others of the agency he was unwillingly tied to. Again. Right. He thought that Ranpo was a sly flirt that had made a goal to get on his last nerve. Danny. Was. RIGHT.

Logically this meant that his prediction of the result should have been right as well. He should not like to hang around the detective as much as he does. Yet.. here there he was throughout the week trying not too laugh at Ranpos little quips back to his snarkiness. Trying to hide his smile at the detectives interactions with his close- knit coworkers. Trying to hide the tiny bit of concern that crept into his mind when the topic of abilities come up, and Ranpo goes uncharacteristically silent.

Yet here he is, in back ally with the guy, ice cream in his hand ( Ranpo dissappeared and reappeared with cones in his hands so fast danny reavualted his whole no ability prediction) and actually enjoying his time.

It was cliche as hell. Danny hated cliches with a passion. Like he liked watching cliches, the required beach episodes in anime was like his 17th favorite thing to watch don't get him wrong. However experiencing it was a whole different story, and it left the guy a bit disoriented if he was being honest.

Again. He wasn't about to show that or anything. Danny simply listened silently as Ranpo rambled on about a case he had worked on.

"- So we came out of the book, problem solved, Poe was absolutely gobsmacked and once again another mission was solved by yours truly."

Danny scoffed " so what I'm hearing is you couldn't solve a mystery- and I believe this mystery was not far off from the millions of others you figured out- because you couldn't find your glasses?"

"Hey! Abilities are a tricky thing ok?" Ranpo countered playfully. " Tell me, what was the hardest puzzle you have ever solved?"

Danny scowled. It was a sodoku puzzle on level medium. " Don't try to change the subject Sherlock, or at least play it off smoother dude."

"Right. Hey what's your thing with Akiko by the way?"

Danny blinked, what a random thing to bring up. "Uhh nothing."

"You're scared of her."

"OFCOURSE I'm scared of her. She literally hates men." Danny rolled his eyes, looking over at the dingy brick walls they were walking along. Where were they heading to again?

"What? I mean yeah but.. how could you tell?"

"She looks like she wants to dissect me, it's not that hard to put 2 and 2 together."

"She's fine with the other guys at the agency though."

" I'm pretty sure the only reason she tolerates you guys is the fact that she's seen y'all on the brink of death from time to time. It satiates her. What a queen."

Ranpo laughs lightly, the sound pleasantly echoing in Danny's ears. "Yeah, I guess tha-"

It happens so fast Danny barely has anytime to register it.

The bricks beside them crumble down as Ranpo lays on the ground, coughing up a lot of blood and groaning. The brunette doesn't have time to turn back around before a rough hand harshly grabs his shoulders and shoves him into the very same wall. An even rougher voice invades his ears.

"I've been looking for you."

Danny stares in abject horror at the man from the week before, the same gun pointed directly at him.

His mind dangerously flashes back to that gun putting bullet into that mother, her form slumping heavily onto her crying kid. A bullet was going to lodge itself into his head and kill him. He was going to die. He was going to die He was going to die HeWasGonnaD-

Cold, hard metal tapped his head a few times, snapping him from his panicking ever so slightly " you still with me? I'm going to explain why you're here now, this is important so pay attention."

Ughh this villain was a monologuer with bad breath. This was quite simply the worst.

" I was just trying to get a little cash out of the cops, you have no idea what they did to me and my family. To my wife. To my daughter- you got to understand that those people who died we're at the wrong place at the wrong time, I just needed to cause more problems for those pigs, make everyone else see that they could never do there jobs properly. That's why I have to do all this. You understand this right? You get it?"

Danny gulped, nodding silently, maybe if he placated this Humboldt guy for just a little longer then.. then what? Ranpo was bleeding an absurd amount of blood by him, Danny couldn't see if he was even conscious. Whatever. He'll think about that part later. The killer's crazy glint got a bit brighter as he giggled.

"Good good, I'm glad you understand. It hurt me when I had to kill those two teens, and that mom. She was just trying to protect her daughter and look where it got her. Such a shame. That poor girl had to watch her mother die right in front of her."

Danny fought down a grimace, forcing the blank expression to stay in place.

"So sad. Hey guy. You don't have to know where that little girl is too by any chance, do you?"

It was the hardest thing ever for the brunette to try and keep his voice casual "No, no haven't heard a thing. And yeah, fuck the police and all that. I get why you did what you did"
" Thank you! Hardly any one seems to understand what I'm getting at, man it's going to be sad killing you"

"...Haha, I can imagine. Quick question though, why exactly are you killing me. I mean, there's no police here so..." Danny's voice trailed off, and the man stared at him with a dark look for a few seconds. Before breaking out into a smile.

" ah well that's just a me thing, don't start a job you can't finish my mom would always say, before I killed her. Hahaha just pulling your leg, stop looking at me like that! She's working as barista in Barcelona haha... anyways-"

He cocked his gun and Danny closed his eyes, preparing himself for death.

"Man, it was hard to act in pain with all your yapping, like i knew it would happen but Jesus Christ Humboldt"

The murderers eyes went wide as a hand grabbed the wrist with the gun. Danny looked sideways to see a bloody Ranpo with a smirk on his lips, glasses on.

"Like I should get a Oscar or something, you got a voice only a mother could love"

Humboldt took a step back, muttering something about trying this again later before doing something with his hands. Before freezing, face becoming pale as a ghost. Someone tsked from behind him.

" Nuh uh uh my slippery friend, you're not getting away this time. Unless it's over my dead body" Dazai's voice became hopeful. " Do you perhaps, want to kill me?"

" Not now Dazai"

Dazai whispered into the petrified man's ear, hand still on his back in a half hug gesture "We'll talk about it later."

Danny was so confused.

As Dazai gave him a wink and turned his attention to tying down Humboldt. Danny's heart was still beating louder than his thoughts and the brunette tried to get himself together. He suddenly jolted when he remembered something, turning to Ranpo, making sure to check his blood pressure, or make sure the detective wasn't running a fever. He looked like he was starting to turn red too, nausea from blood loss probably. "You're bleeding we got to get you to a doctor, or akiko"

" I-I'm fine"

" Stop with the bravado, here I'll help you walk"

" No seriously" Ranpo looked sheepish, as he gestured down to himself "this is just hair gel that I stole from Junichiro mixed with some water and red food dye"

A miniscule pang appeared in Danny's chest, he breathed in deeply and, "I don't understand."

"This was all kinda planned, by yours truly Ofcourse."

Another pang, Danny took a step back.

"Bu-But how did you know it was going to go this way?"

"We've been chasing this guy for over a month, naturally I'd pick up on his love of talking, it was just a matter of getting him into a position where he felt comfortable enough to talk, say around a victim. Then Dazai can sneak up and immobilize his ability while he's off guard"

"He could've killed me."

"Please, using my ultra deduction skills I had you figured out well enough to know you'd hold up long enough for the plan to work. This was a no risk plan."

Danny... knew he shouldn't feel as hurt as he currently did, the object of his terrors these past few days was caught. No one was injured in the process, and he could go back to his normal life. This was the best case scenario. It was good news. It was a good thing.

Yet.

"Glad to know I was able to fit perfectly into your puzzle detective, shouldn't have underestimated you."

Ranpo's eyes widened "wait, no. I meant that-"

Danny so wasn't in the mood for a half baked excuse, having a gun in your face 2 minutes prior would do that to a person. " Look man, I get it, used the resources you had and it paid off. Thanks for catching the guy. I think I'll just,, go home then"

He didn't wait for a response, just turned around an headed straight for his house, scolding his past self for putting his now self into this predicament. Danny ignored the aching in his chest in the process.

Chapter Text

Ranpo stared listlessly after the retreating man. He screwed up didn't he?

A hand appeared on his shoulder "Dude. You screwed up."

Thanks Dazai. Ranpo yanked his arm away, facing the suicidal maniac with a scowl " I didn't even do anything, we caught the bad guy didn't we?" We gestured to Humboldt, who was wriggling away in Dazai's arm.

"And you couldn't have just told him any of this before hand"

" If I did he was going to act differently, it would have compromised the plan"

"So instead you used him as a piece in your little chess game... and told him directly after that's what you were doing."

Ranpo wilted in on himself a bit as Dazai whistled. "Great plan Genius." The taller man then turned to his captive. "Cmon, let's put you behind bars or something and let our detective try to detect the underlying problem right now." Said detective only watched as Dazai walked away, nodding to a screaming Humboldt with muttered 'shhh I know, I knows's.

He didn't mean to. Ranpo thought that Danny would be impressed by him. That he'd get to see those cinnamon eyes sparkle with wonder and a starry delight, and for once, he'd get to see that look towards himself.

Now though, he reevaluated, was this just a repeat of what had happened with the President when he first started out? He wish he could've gotten slapped like back then, it would have been better than having to see the betrayed and hurt look the brunette sent him when he realized this was all a set up.

In hindsight, Ranpo should have backtracked on his convoluted reasoning to impress the man after he realized Danny didn't actually hate him. He belatedly had stumbled upon that when Danny answered his inquiry about Akiko as naturally as his other friends would. He thinks he may have misread the situation from the very beginning. But wasn't it too late by that point?

Some time must have passed because the sun was lower than it was before. He lowered his head sluggishly and went the direction Dazai took Humboldt in a while back.

This was a messed up situation. This was a mistake. This was done with. This was-

So not Ranpos style.

Feet stopped.

They turned around.

They ran.

What kind of self depreciating defeatist bullshit was that? Logically speaking, if Ranpo hurt the brunette but did it with originally no bad intention at all, wouldn't it be more incriminating for him to give up, and make any assumptions towards himself become the truth in the brunettes mind? The best course of action at this point would be to explain himself fully, and then leave any forgiveness in Danny's ballcourt.

Ranpo low-key wanted to scream as he continued running, he almost made this the worst kind of miscommunication trope ever. He was such a genius-idiot.

Danny's house wasn't that far away, Ranpo had been there already indirectly, when it was his turn to stake out. Yet Ranpo was still trying to catch his breath when he got to the front door, knocking harshly. He mentally upped his cardio regimen for the future.

It took a few seconds for the door to open, Danny peaking his face out with a scowl.

" What do you want."
" I don't have an ability."

"What?"

Ranpo cringed internally, he could've have led up to that instead of leading with that. Oh well, the damage was done, he continued " I still don't want the agency to know that I know that they know and I'm positive you also had your suspicions um, they were right. My ultra deduction skills are just me. Don't get me wrong though I'm still incredibly impressive and I do need my glasses to be able to deduct things but I thing that's more of a mental block than anything else-"

"Get to the point Ranpo." The door was fully opened, and Danny leaned on the frame. He looked impossibly tired.

"My point being that I kinda just wanted you to be impressed like you were with the others abilities and so, I arranged the whole thing with Humboldt. I-" Ranpo gulped breaking eye contact, this whole talking things out was a bit more difficult once in action " think it came across as using you to get the bad guy but,, I was using the the bad guy to get to you in actuality" he trailed off and Danny stayed silent.

A beat. Two beats. Three beats.

" It would make a lot of sense to find good bait to lure the murderer in"

"But there would be no better bait than you" this time, Ranpo didn't even try to hide his cringe "- in the way that I wouldn't have tried this, if you weren't a factor."

"In some weirdly warped way you were trying to prove yourself?"

" that's the gist but I wouldn't exactly phrase it like that-"

" Why would you hide the fact that you don't got abilities? I mean, objectively, it's more impressive to have god-like detective skills and be completely normal"

Ranpo looked up. The brunette didn't have that pained look in his eyes, it was just replaced by the usual annoyance... which was a good thing, he guessed.

" uh, I guess that's also a mental thing"

He received a dry look.

"Sure thing bud. Thanks for clearing that up, I did have my suspicions and verbal confirmation is always welcome."

"No problem?"

"What you did was pretty dumb."

"I know"

"Ugh, We could've had the worst miscommunication trope ever"

"Right?"

"Cool, Imma head back inside now"

"That's good, I- wait" Ranpo stepped forward to stop the door from closing in his face, which Danny let happen.

"What's up?"

Ranpo gawked. The snarky bitch was doing this on purpose.
"You got me messed up man"
"Whatever do you mean my good sir."

"..... you're obviously not obligated to come to the agency anymore but maybe.. we could hang out some time?"

Then, Danny smiled, the first full smile that Ranpo received since meeting the man. He noted every detail for future records.

"Yeah, I'd like that~" Then the door was promptly slammed in his face.

Yes! Ranpo was in.

Hypothetically Ofcourse.

Chapter Text

"I'm just saying it's not as big of a deal as you're making it out to be"

"Oh it's not that big a deal he says. NOT THAT BIG A DEAL? Cut out the middle man and just say it like it is. You hate me and think it would be better if I was DEAD!"

"Danny I'm going to say this once, and I cannot stress it enough. It's perfectly okay for a fictional wolf and fictional bunny to end up together."

"LOUIS IS RIGHT THERE"

"Ah yes the deer that hated his guts"

"Hat-ed. Past tense. Who doesn't love a good enemies to lovers"

"Statistically ratings would go down if the main character turned out to be a gay wolf."

" Ok that's a whole other thing that I'm not even going to touch because - ohohoh. But sure, it's sooo much better for Legoshi to get with a bunny who dismisses his feelings and coerses him into sex."

Danny continued to glare as Ranpo just sighed and pinched his nose, a ghost of a smile on his lips. "I don't disagree, but can we talk about this later. Please? I can feel people staring at us"

"Yeah... maybe the furry-based discussion is a little too advanced for their time."

It was Ranpo and Danny's first official date.

They had talked about what to do a few days prior. Where Ranpo all in all took the mantle for handling plans, after insisting that as the world's best detective, he easily had the most qualifications to create the perfect date. The brunette let him, mostly out of curiosity to see what the guy could come up with.

Then Ranpo came up to him when he was mindlessly scrolling through his phone at the agencies desk, dropping 2 objects down and smirking like he was a god-sent genius. (Danny supposed he kind of was but he would take a bullet before admitting that). Danny gave him a dry look.

"Cool. Books."

"These, my beloved, are going to be our date."

Huh?

"We're going to... read together? I'll give it to you Ranpo you certainly know how to woo a guy."

"Don't be caustic. We are going into them."

...Huh? "Like Super Why?"

"Exactly like Super Why."

Danny finally paid attention to the books in front of him. One was a book about escape rooms, and the other looked like a late 1900's romance book. He straightened up with a new peaked interest. " I'm not going to attempt to understand or question the mechanics, but where did you get this.. stuff from?"

Ranpo smirk became impossible wider.

"My bitch."

Ook Danny was so skipping right past that.

So here they were, at some vintage diner from the 1960s. The light live jazz music playing the background and low-candle ambience really making their furry talk stand out. Danny relented and promptly changed subjects. Starting up a conversation about a huge crime that was solved a few weeks ago and letting the detective take the wheel, talking about how he solved it. He simply leaned on both hands and watched him ramble, feeling very content.

It had been about 5 weeks since the whole Humboldt situation, and a month and half since meeting the self proclaimed genius.

Through there time together Ranpo opened up to him about plenty of stuff, about how he couldn't understand how other people couldn't think the same way he does and see the same things he sees. How it almost broke him, hence the glasses. He talked about his deceased parents and how they were geniuses, and he continued to let Danny in on all the puzzles he played as a kid, abstract 3d one's. Ranpo even took one out when they were lounging in his house and let the brunette tried to solve it, he had simply stared with a fond look at the frustration over the puzzle. That puzzle never did get finished.

Danny knew better than to take all the newly found information for granted. In exchange, he shared about his own family life, about his desire for a career in the entertainment industry to make people laugh, about the self doubt and insecurities that came from pursuing such a dream, and all kinds more.

Needless to say their relationship naturally progressed over time.

Danny felt lighter than he had in a long time. He was never that big of a romantic, perfectly fine with rooting for cute fictional couples curated to have a happy ending. However this thing they had going on, it just. Fits. Danny loves it.

Ranpo must have noticed he got lost in his own train of thoughts because he came to a stop in his storytelling. "You good there Danny-boy". The brunette simply smiled "This was a great idea, I'm just happy."

Red bloomed in his dates' ears as his eyes darted away "Y-yeah, me too." Cute.

"Your check kind gentlemen" Danny thanked the waitress and they paid for the satisfyingly cheap food (He cursed the prospect of inflation in his mind).

Ranpo made a show of dapping his face with the napkin to cover up the growing smile, he cleared his throat. " So, you ready to have fun?"

" Born ready."

They transported out of one book and into another. The atmosphere kind of threw Danny off, going from sweet and melodious to grey, rustic, and cold. They were in a jail cell he realized belatedly.

The man beside him was practically vibrating with apparently contagious excitement. So he decided to Dramatize. " Gosh dang it detective! We were thwarted in our plans to retrieve the jewels! However shall we recover from this."

"Need not fear my faithful assistant, not only will we come out of this heathenish place, but we will retrieve what's rightfully ours. The walls will not close in on us!"

The jail walls were literally closing in on them, screeching sounds resonating in the stale air.

"Yeah, they sure won't!--- uh really quick though, there's no chance we might actually be crushed right?"

Ranpo looked him dead-on. " Ofcourse there's a chance we could be crushed and killed, what's the point of an escape room if not for the looming threat of death above us?"

" Sure, so if you could put on your glasses"

" Oh, I didn't bring them."

"...."

"...."

"...."

"YOU DIDN'T BRING YOUR GLASSES?!"

" No?!? I didn't want to solve this in a second. I wanted to be dumb, like you."

"I'm going to kill you"

"We'll solve this with the power of love."

"Hey genius, what are the chances that YOU will make it out alive tonight"

" Don't know, don't have my glasses. Anyways" Ranpo tapped his watch. "We have an hour, let's ditch this place."

Thus began an hour of pure chaos filled with secret compartments and hints, a 'officer' came out to take one of them for a 'phone call' that resulted in a whole other array clues to get out of the jail. You'd think the ever constricting space would cause any sense of urgency but no, Danny's lungs were starting to hurt from shouting and laughing so much.

With 3 minutes left to live he was finally able to sort out the poneglyphs (yes. Poneglyphs.) The brunette laughed incredulously as the walls finally stopped moving "I solved it.. OH MY GOD WE DID IT, I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO BE GONERS"

They both stumbled out of the tiny space, Danny breathed in the... this wasn't fresh air, he looked around to see that they were in another room. A pink room with different sized mirrors. A pink room with different sized mirrors and cages with tigers.

A voice resonated behind him. "We got about 45 minutes with this one, starting the timer now"

Danny couldn't help it, he laughed.

An hour and a half later they finally made it to the last room which had a five minute timer. Both their faces were red from both exhilaration and exhaustion, Danny was having the absolute time of his life right now. The room they entered was the most normal one and thankfully, not underwater again.

It was a basic closet area, with a single note that read "rate your experience." and a scale, with a pencil on the side. Danny reached for it but was promptly stopped by a firm hand holding his wrist. "Wait, they wouldn't have a timer and no door if this wasn't another test."

They racked their brains together for the next 4 minutes, thinking of solutions and checking every inch of the room. When the minutes turned to seconds the brunette was beginning to feel a bit nervous because of, yknow, the whole death if they failed thing. Ranpo let out a long sigh and suddenly looked a bit guilty " I was trying not to but last resort"

Ranpo. Took. Out. His. Glasses. He casually put them on and blinked.

"I figured it out"

" YOU FUCKING SON OF A B-"

Danny was cut off with a kiss, almost instantly melting into it. His hands fell around the detectives waist to pull him closer. He didn't think about the timer stopping just before hitting 0, or notice that they had transported out of the book. All he could think about was Ranpo. He had a feeling it was going to be his only thought for a while.

Ranpo slowly pulled away, just a small distance, so that there noses were barely touching. Danny whispered " how did a kiss solve it?" And ranpo huffed a soft breathy laugh, his beautiful green eyes glinting in amusement. "It didn't, the answer was in the pencil lead"

" You've got me messed up Ranpo."

" Yeah, Yeah, yell at me about it later."

Then their lips connected again.

Their date was a complete and utter train wreck that somehow worked out perfectly in the end. If that wasn't a metaphor for their ever-progressing relationship Danny didn't know what was.