Chapter Text
Buzz…Buzz…Buzz…
Ranpo’s alarm went off, waking him up for work. He groans as he sits up, turning off his alarm. He really doesn’t want to go to work though he needs to anyway. Ranpo gets up from his bed and gets ready for the day with the little motivation he has. He heads out of his apartment and walks to the Armed Detective Agency, it was a pretty simple route for Ranpo since he doesn’t live far from the Agency. He walks into the Armed Detective Agency, and Yosano greets him as he walks through the door.
“Hey Ranpo!” She chirps, seeming pretty cheery this morning
“Morning” replies Ranpo tiredly, as usual. Ranpo isn’t really a morning person. Yosano on the other hand is definitely a morning person.
Ranpo walks over to his desk and sits down on his chair. He opens a drawer from his desk, pulls out a bag of candy, and starts munching away. He always has quite the sweet tooth so it isn’t abnormal to see him eating sweets any time of the day. Ranpo starts working on a report on a murder case he had to solve a few days ago. He always hates working on reports over missions and cases he had to go on but he has to do them.
Ping
An hour later, Ranpo gets a notification on his phone. He checks his phone to find that Poe has texted him.
“Hey Ranpo, I finished that mystery novel I've been working on. Do you want me to come over to the Detective Agency and drop it off?”
A smile comes across Ranpo’s face as he reads the text message from Poe. He always loves it when Poe comes over to the Detective Agency. He quickly texts Poe back happily.
“Yeah, Of course! I’ll see you later!”
Ranpo has butterflies in his stomach, it’s a new feeling for him. It isn’t a bad feeling, it’s quite pleasant but Ranpo doesn’t understand it. He’d never had this feeling before. He can’t stop thinking of Poe, it’s odd. He doesn’t even realize that his face is slightly flushed until Dazai points it out.
“Um, Ranpo? Your face is a bit…red… Are you perhaps talking to a special someone~?” Dazai says teasingly.
“Dazai, why would I be talking to someone ‘special?’ I don’t really do the whole ‘love’ thing,” Ranpo replies.
Ranpo starts thinking, wondering why his cheeks were so flushed and what the butterflies in his stomach meant. He may be very smart when it comes to things like deducing crimes and such but he was a complete idiot when it came to emotions and feelings. He’s never really been good at expressing how he’s actually feeling.
“Mhm, sure, if you say so then~,” Dazai says, still teasing Ranpo, snapping Ranpo from his train of thought. Just then, there’s a loud voice that comes from the hallway, just outside the door. It’s Chuuya, probably with Dazai’s lunch like usual.
“Hey Dumass, you forgot your lunch at my place again!” Chuuya’s voice yells, indeed with Dazai’s lunch.
“Welp, have fun with your “friendship” then,” Dazai says to Ranpo before standing up from his desk.
Ranpo just rolls his eyes in response. He’s used to Dazai’s teasing so he doesn’t think much of it. Ranpo gets back to work on his reports, hoping that maybe if he does something, the weird feeling in his stomach will go away.
A little while later, Ranpo notices that the feeling isn’t going away, only increasing the more he thinks about later when Poe is supposed to arrive at the agency with his new novel. Ranpo sighs in defeat, slumping in his chair a bit. He really wants this feeling to go away, it makes him nauseous but it’s not a bad feeling at the same time. He decides to take a break from his reports and head over to Yosano’s office, maybe she will know what’s wrong with him.
Ranpo walks to Yosano’s office, opening the door without bothering to knock. He sits in a rolly chair that Yosano had put in her office a while ago. Yosano must have gone somewhere because she’s not in her office right now, so Ranpo waits until Yasono returns.
About 30 minutes later, Yosano walks into her office to find Ranpo asleep on the rolly chair. She shuts the door, making Ranpo wake up with a sudden sound. He looks around for a minute before realizing where he is and what he’s in here for.
“Ranpo? What are you doing in here?” Yosano says, setting some shopping bags down on her desk, which are probably filled with new medical supplies or something like that.
“Well, I haven’t been feeling the greatest if I’m honest…” Ranpo replies, hoping Yosano will have a cure for this sick but pleasant feeling.
Yosano thinks for a moment before replying. “Oh really? What’s wrong?”
“Well, basically it feels like I have like… Butterflies in my stomach… It’s weird…” Ranpo pulls out a lollipop from his pocket and puts it in his mouth.
“Hm, any other symptoms? Or is that all?” Yosano says, seeming to catch on to what Ranpo is feeling.
“Well, my face was also pretty red earlier. I felt all hot and bothered…” Ranpo says, the lollipop still in his mouth. At this point, Yosano is sure of what is wrong with Ranpo but just one more question won’t hurt.
Yosano smirks before asking one more question to see if her diagnosis is true. “So, were you perhaps… talking to someone at the time?”
“I mean, I was texting Poe right before the symptoms started, but I don’t really see why that matters…” Ranpo responds, a little confused by Yosano’s question.
“It just does. Now, I have an answer. I think you’re in love!” Yosano says, seeming a little more cheery now.
“Yosano, I am not in love. I know that for a fact, there’s no way I’m in love…” Ranpo says, clearly not impressed with Yosano's diagnosis. He knows there is no way he is in love, especially with Poe. He and Poe are rivals, not friends… right? Sure, they’ve gotten close recently but that doesn’t mean that they’re even friends. That’s what Ranpo thinks anyway, but it’s pretty obvious that something is going on between the two of them.
“Ok, fine then, keep lying to yourself.” Yosano sighs, not bothering to argue with Ranpo, even if his feelings for Poe are painfully obvious.
Ranpo is silent for a little, still sitting in the rolly chair. He spins around for a moment before stopping, a somewhat serious look comes across his face.
“Actually-” Ranpo starts. “I… I might have a thing… for Poe…” he manages to get out, embarrassed that he’s actually said it out loud. He’s always admired Poe’s looks, how gorgeous Poe’s gray eyes looked, how Poe’s outfits always seemed to look so good against his skin, and how Poe’s hair was a stunning dark brown that somehow looked
slightly purple when the sunlight hit it just right. Ranpo sighs in defeat, realizing that his feelings for Poe are indeed romantic.
“Thank god you admitted it, I would’ve gone insane if you didn’t,” Yosano says, sighing in relief. Ranpo has obviously had some sort of feelings for Poe for a while now.
“...What should I do about it? I kinda want this feeling to just…go away… you know?” Ranpo replies he doesn’t like this feeling. He doesn’t like feeling stupid, especially when it’s something he should know.
Yosano responds “You can’t just get rid of the feeling, you know. I mean, you could try ignoring the feelings, but that’s really hard. My advice would be to ask Poe out on a date.”
“He’s my rival, he’d never go out on a date with me. That’s just…weird…” Ranpo adds, not believing Poe would ever go on a date with him in a million years. Poe is his rival, his enemy, maybe his friend, not his boyfriend of all things.
“...You’re kidding, right? Have you ever seen the way Poe looks at you? I mean, he calls you “dear” for the love of god. He so likes you back, you’re just too oblivious to see that.” Yosano explains, knowing that Poe definitely has a crush on Ranpo. It’s as clear as day, only Ranpo is oblivious to it.
“I’m not oblivious…” Ranpo says in response as he pretends to pout.
“Mhm, sure you’re not,” Yosano replies sarcastically.