Chapter Text
Author's Notes:
Greetings to my first completed Bungo Stray Dogs fanfic. I enjoy this ship dearly and spent a lot of time creating a respectful relationship between these beloved detectives. I must give a warning here just in case you missed the tags. The main characters are dealing with depression and suicide ideation. It's not explicitly discussed, but I feel it's important to give a heads-up. There is descriptions of violence and a character does die. It is talked about in detail, and I also wish to note this. This fanfic has two smut chapters that are later in the series. With this said, I hope you enjoy this dear fanfic of mine.
This chapter's song is Oh Klahoma!
If you wish to check out my art tumblr, you just click here! I mostly make Ranpoe and Chuuatsu stuff. SSK every now and then holds me hostage.
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Ranpo was dozing off during the meeting. He zoned into the conversation now and then, but the words sounded dull and boring without context. Vampire clean-up, assault management, recovery costs, and the need to suck up to the government. It was too late to pay attention now, and it’s annoying to be the one who asks others to repeat themselves. The basics were simple enough; they messed up badly. More importantly, he had messed up.
Despite his lack of replies, no one seemed to question his mood. Luckily for him, being quiet and out of the meeting is typical of him.
“Meeting Adjourned.” Fukuzawa’s voice broke Ranpo’s musings. The others stood, filing out of the room. He couldn’t find the energy to move, so he wouldn’t.
“Ranpo,” Fukuzawa spoke again, his voice sounding distant and muffled, “You should go home and rest.”
He tried to focus on his words, struggling momentarily before replying, “Why?"
“Doctors orders.” Fukuzawa tilted his head to Yosano, who was leaning on the wall behind him. “How are you doing, by the way?”
Ranpo grinned in response, already preparing his lie, “I’m fine; we’ve been through worse.”
Fukuzawa frowned, disbelief evident by the furrow of his brows, “I've known you since you were a child. While it’s true, you witness some horrific events and even predicted some of them, but-”
“They weren’t my fault.” Ranpo quickly cut him off, “It’s fine, old man. Yosano healed me; there’s nothing left to worry about.”
“Yes, but-”
“No buts! I know best, remember!” Ranpo exclaimed, twirling his hat, “I will go home purely because I want to.” The sudden interrogation gave him a headache; he didn’t understand why the old man was pestering him like this, and he certainly wasn’t in the mood to deal with it.
“You’re so difficult,” Yosano whined as she followed Ranpo out. He ignored her, fully intent on dragging himself home in peace.
Ranpo quickly slid out of the agency, heading to the dorms. He thought about grabbing something to eat from the cafe, but the thought of human interaction made him gag. So he wallowed to his home, only getting lost twice.
As soon as he arrived, he threw the door open and nearly cried at the familiar feeling of cheap flooring. He threw off his shoes and walked past the scattered stacks of random piles that had started turning into towers. It wasn’t just junk, but random books, blankets, papers, files, and knicknacks.
He fumbled around, finally finding his bed, and threw himself down. He pushes his face into the blanket, the muffled feeling bringing him comfort. The mumbles of the meeting rushed through his head, the voices mixing into loud knocking… knocking? There wasn’t any knocking during the meeting, aside from his head banging on the table.
Ranpo sat up, blinking the dizziness from his eyes. He squinted towards the door and quickly deduced that the knocking wasn’t, in fact, in his head but was actually happening. He was fully prepared to ignore it, but a familiar voice caught his attention.
“Ranpo-kun? It’s Friday the 13th, I brought some classics.” Edgar's voice echoed throughout the tiny dorm.
Ranpo took a deep breath to soothe the odd buzzing underneath his skin. Standing, he quickly made it to the door and reached for the knob. His fingers shook slightly, a sharp stinging in his palm.
Suddenly the image of Fukuchi's sword replaced the knob, and the door turned into a threatening figure. He ripped back his hand, backing away only to trip on the shoes he had carelessly thrown off before.
Stumbling, Ranpo quickly caught himself, his breath uneven and the buzzing under his skin turning into fire. He shook for a moment before silently cursing himself; this was ridiculous. It was a door, not Fukuchi; there was nothing to be scared of.
He snapped out of it, forcing his breath to even out. He swings open the door, shocking Edgar. Karl was on his head, and 4 DVD cases were locked behind his fingertips. He seemed so excited, despite his surprise, smiling sincerely.
“It’s so good to see you, dear Ranpo. First, we shall watch Halloween,” He shows the cases as he announces them, “Friday the 13th, Poltergeist, and then a funny classic, Scary Movie. Only the first one, the rest are horrid.”
Despite his previous tension, he couldn’t help but feel soothed by Edgar’s sudden presence. He vaguely remembered today being a movie night, but his mind was frazzled, and he had forgotten.
Ranpo was snapped out of his thoughts when Karl jumped onto his head. He wobbled, almost falling over as he stood to the side, allowing his rival inside. Edgar seemed pleased enough, still rambling about the disappointment of some movies.
“For someone who doesn’t publish any of his works, you sure seem eager to judge someone else’s.” Ranpo interrupted, poking Edgar’s shoulder.
“Tsk, that’s not nice.” Edgar whined, “Besides, it’s easier to critique others' works. It’s a whole different feeling when someone critiques yours. I’m not fond of the feeling of someone prodding at my personality. Truly an awful thing, someone judging every mistake.”
Ranpo felt a cold feeling in the pit of his stomach. Of course, he knew the feeling and witnessed firsthand what happens when mistakes are made. The pain that your work wasn’t enough that you weren’t enough.
“I’m aware,” Was the only response he could muster. His voice sounded awfully stoney and dull, even to his own ears.
He cleared his throat, correcting the cold tone, and continued, “I think you should publish your work. It’s good enough for me, and no one is better than me.”
“Ah,” Edgar looked away, his ears turning red, “Sure, let's just share with everyone the time I tried to kill you.”
“Hmm, heavy stress on tried. The attempt was hardly anything to worry about. I’d call it cute at most.” He teased, his lips twitching up into a smug smile.
Edgar coughed, his face beginning to match the redness of his ears. He tilted his head forward, his dark hair covering even more of his face.
“Let’s just start the movies…” Edgar trailed off, not even bothering to wait for Ranpo to follow.
Before he had even made it past the front entrance, Ranpo grabbed his collar. “Shoes Poe-kun, I know I’m distracting, but it’s no excuse to lose your manners.”
He had apparently learned a bit too close to Edgar while saying this. The other man practically threw himself to the floor. You’d think he bit him or something with his dramatic reaction.
“Sorry!” Edgar shrieked; if Ranpo thought he couldn't get any redder, he was quickly being proven wrong. The writer quickly threw off his shoes and stood stiff at the door. “I’m still not used to the culture here; I’ll be more careful not to get distracted.”
Ranpo scoffed at his embarrassment, throwing an uncaring wave behind him as he walked towards the couch.
“It’s fine. The place is a mess anyways.” Ranpo hates cleaning and hasn't been allowing many visitors lately, “We can order take out and relax.”
“That sounds fine.” Edgar looked at Ranpo a bit closer, reading his expressions, “Ranpo-kun. Are you feeling alright?”
“Spiffy,” Ranpo responded quickly. The last thing he needed was to be interrogated.
Edgar raised a brow; his lips turned down as he spoke, “Spiffy?”
“Yeah…spiffy. Why are you asking? There’s no reason I shouldn’t be, right?” Ranpo gave Edgar a sharp look. The other man might be a bit dense sometimes, but he’d surely realize the glare was clearly a warning.
“Right..” Edgar pauses, “Well, whatever it is, let’s use tonight as a distraction.”
As irritating as Edgar’s disbelief was, Ranpo couldn’t really bring himself to be angry. He wasn’t being pushy and already was offering a subject change. So he just flopped onto the couch and watched Edgar set everything up.
Edgar opened the case to the first movie, his fingers careful with the DVD. He places it in the player, turning on the TV. Ranpo used that time to look at an online ramen menu, but nothing really looked interesting.
“This movie was written in two weeks and had a low budget. They used a 5-dollar cheap Halloween costume for the killer's mask.” Edgar looked up, his dark hair parting slightly so Ranpo could see his eyes.
“That’s cool,” Ranpo muttered in reply. The gentle way Edgar stared at him made his stomach feel warm. Is this what it’s like to be normal?
Edgar had such pretty eyes, calculating but still managing to have a hidden warmth. Not many people got to see said warmth. At that thought, he had to fight another smile. No one else got to see Edgar's warmth; it was reserved for Ranpo, his greatest rival.
“Why are you still wearing work clothes?” Edgar asked, yanking Ranpo out of his thoughts, “You should go get comfortable; the movie isn’t going anywhere.”
Ranpo glances down at his clothes. His cloak rested over most of it, but Edgar was right. The button-up had already begun digging into his skin, and the pants felt scratchy. So he stood from the couch, mumbling as he went to his room to change.
As he left, he gestured for Edgar to put in his order. He didn’t stay long enough to see if he understood; Edgar wasn’t stupid. Hopefully, he didn’t have an issue translating the website.
He fumbled around in his room a bit before finally deciding to grab some pants and an oversized band t-shirt that Yosano had gifted him.
After taking a moment to catch his breath, he went back to the couch to see Edgar ordering a single chicken ramen. Stupid man, he was too skinny to be eating so little. He never understood Edgar’s reluctance to enjoy good food; it wasn’t like he was strapped for cash.
“You need to get more,” Ranpo said, sliding against Edgar to add things to the menu.
“No, thank you. Those bowls are this big.” Edgar tried to mimic the size with his hands. While he wasn’t wrong about the serving size being pretty big, he was ignoring the fact that this was supposed to be a fun night.
Ranpo shook his head in disapproval. Must he do everything? He orders a couple more appetizers that he knows Edgar will like. It was odd ordering for someone who wasn’t as fond of sweets as he was. Edgar preferred more savory type things, truly a freak of nature.
They bickered a bit about the order before Edgar relented. Ranpo gave him a cocky grin and finally settled down to watch the movie. After a bit, the door rang, and Edgar grabbed the food, astonished at the amount.
“Did we really need this much?” He asked, giving Ranpo a doubtful look. Said look only managed to make Ranpo scoff.
“Of course we did; now get over here and try what I picked out,” Ranpo gestured wildly for Edgar to return.
The other man snorted at the theatrics but did as he was told. The movie was quickly resumed, and Edgar slowly nibbled at the treats Ranpo had ordered. As expected, he obviously enjoyed them but wasn’t too eager to admit it.
Ranpo found that his attention was split between Edgar and the movie. Every silly little giggle and jump from the man made Ranpo’s chest hurt. Maybe he shouldn’t have ordered so much food; he was obviously suffering from indigestion.
As the movie ended, Edgar turned to him with an eager look, “So… what’d you think?
“Not really a mystery, but I can see why it’s appealing,” Ranpo answered, “Though it’s so old, I can’t help but laugh at how cheesy and silly the scenes are.”
“I must admit, I find all four of these movies hilarious.” Edgar let out a soft chuckle. He pulled Karl towards him as if to save himself from ridicule. Not that Ranpo found Edgar’s interests ridiculous. Quite the opposite, actually.
“Tell that to anyone who doesn’t know you. They’d call you a nut.” Ranpo laughed, watching as Edgar gently placed Karl in between them.
“I would rather die,” Edgar said as he got up to switch the DVD.
“Dramatic, but I see your point.” Ranpo teased, still laughing.
They got halfway through the second movie before they both started to drift off to sleep. Ranpo felt himself sway, eventually resting his head on Edgar’s shoulder.
Edgar stiffened for a moment, and Ranpo went to move his head, but Edgar began to lean into the touch. They drifted off to sleep, Karl happily rested on their laps. Ranpo really did have the best rival on the planet.