Chapter Text
“I’m sorry Edgar, but I don’t feel the same way”
Poe felt his heart drop. He had mustered up all of his courage to write a love letter and confess to Ranpo, but here he stood, in the park, under the beautiful magnolia trees, getting rejected.
“I… I’m sorry Ranpo-kun” Edgar tried not to let the tears well up in his eyes. What was he thinking? Of course Ranpo didn’t like him in that way, he should have known. “I understand if you don’t want to hang out with me… or just want to ignore me… or hate me.” his voice cracked a little bit on that last part.
“No, I’ll never do that.” Ranpo ran up to hug Poe. “Even if I don’t like you like that , I still love being your friend.”
“...You don’t hate me?”
Edogawa pulled away, “Of course not! Don’t ever think that. I still like hanging out with you and I wanna keep being friends, okay?”
Blinking to clear his eyes from the tears, Poe nodded his head. “Okay” he replied though still couldn’t face the detective, choosing to stare at his shoes.
“Good.” Ranpo nodded as well, “I want to be your friend forever.”
—----- Roughly one week later -----—
Poe rested his face in his hands with a groan, why can’t he get over Ranpo?
Sitting in his booth in the corner of the café below the ADA office. He had come alone to sip on coffee, but quickly became frustrated with himself for how many times that detective had entered his mind.
Sure he was happy- actually he was more than happy to still be Ranpo’s friend, and Ranpo didn’t treat him any differently since the confession, but… he’s told the man he had gotten over him, and that was most certainly a lie.
He groaned once more, Why couldn’t he just like Ranpo platonically like he was supposed to??
“Jeez, what's bothering you so much, Edgar?”
Yanking his head up, Poe was met with his friend Lucy who happened to work at the café.
“Oh- nothing, I’m fine.”
Lucy gave him an unimpressed look.
“Well, I mean…” Edgar sighed, “It’s just trouble with Ranpo is all.”
The red haired girl sighed, knowing the situation. “You know you don’t have to rush yourself, you confessed just barely a week ago and falling out of love with someone isn’t something that can be forced.”
“I know… but I already told him I didn’t feel that way anymore. I’m happy with just being friends but-”
“But you’re still hanging on.”
Poe nodded.
Lucy supported the tray she was holding on her hip as she leaned against the table. “Y’know maybe you should just meet someone new.”
“Hmm?” Edgar wasn’t sure where she was going with this.
“The café is having a singles night tonight actually, come at like seven o’ clock-ish.”
“What? No, I can’t go to that.”
“Why not? What else are you gonna do?”
“Umm…” Thinking to the pages on his writing desk, Poe realized that ‘staying home alone and writing’ probably wasn’t a very good excuse for Lucy.
“Just come tonight and meet somebody, you owe that much to me and you owe that much to yourself.”
Laying his eyes down defeatedly, he nodded. “Alright, I’ll go.” Lucy was probably right, besides, it might not be that bad.
~
It was almost seven thirty pm and Poe found himself hesitating at the door of the café. Would he even talk to anyone? It’s likely he’ll just sit in the corner for the whole time, why did he even go to this?
Despite his thoughts, he pushed the door open and was welcomed with a bright, warm atmosphere.
The café was slightly more packed than usual and Edgar already felt uncomfortable standing in the space. Through the dispersed array of people, he met eyes with Lucy who perked up upon noticing him and made her way over.
“Finally, I was wondering when you were gonna arrive.”
“Hi, Lucy.” He greeted with a soft smile, glad to see a familiar face.
Suddenly, another waiter had called to the red haired girl, “Lucy! Can you take table three their drinks? I gotta clean up a spill.”
“Fine.” she called before quickly turning back to Poe. “You better talk to other people here, okay? I don’t think I can stand your depressing behavior in the café anymore so you better meet someone new.”
And with that, Lucy disappeared, leaving Edgar standing and yet again not knowing what to do.
Nervously looking around the café, he spotted a quiet little booth in the corner that must have been the perfect hideaway from the crowd. Poe knew that he promised Lucy to not just stand in a corner the whole time, but that little booth seemed so secluded and perfect, he’d just sit there for a little bit, until he felt ready.
So making a beeline for the booth, he nimbly and quickly fell into one of the seats.
“Oh, hello.” A voice alerted Poe as soon as he sat down, quickly leading him to the realization that he was not alone.
Looking across him, Edgar saw another man sitting on the other side of the booth. The man was clean shaven with dark hair and a suit, Poe must have not noticed him from how the crowd obstructed his view.
“Ohmygosh I’m so sorry!” Poe blurted out, becoming extremely embarrassed. “I thought this booth was empty, I’ll find another table.”
“Oh no, it’s alright.” The man lifted his hand to stop Poe from leaving, “This is quite a nice table, I’d be happy to share it.”
Not exactly sure how to respond, Edgar slowly sat back down. “Erm- Thank you.” He said shyly.
“What would your name be?”
“Ah- My name is Edgar Allan Poe, and you?”
“Franz Kafka” The man smiled gently. “What brings you here?”
“Oh, well I don’t really go to places like this, I- My friend wanted me to go.”
Franz chuckled, “Yeah, I don’t really go to places like this either, but I’m kind of alienated so I thought I’d come here to meet some people.”
A moment of silence ensued while Poe desperately tried to find a talking point. “Uh… What do you do for a living?”
“Oh, I’m a salesman, what about you?”
“Erm- I am a writer… I do mystery novels to be specific.”
“That’s interesting, why mystery novels of all genres?”
“Likely because they’re the only ones compatible with my ability.” He sort of said this absentmindedly under his breath, but once he realized what he had said Poe quickly shut his mouth. He shouldn’t let people know he has an ability! He just let that slip, he didn’t mean to, but not many people are familiar with what an ability is… oh no, Franz is going to think he’s weird or-
“No way! You’re an ability user too?” Kafka exclaimed excitedly, interrupting Edgar’s thoughts.
“Huh?”
“I’m also an ability user, what’s your ability?”
“Ah-” Being very caught off guard, Poe spoke slowly. “It’s called ‘The Black Cat in the Rue Morgue’… I can essentially trap people in my mystery novels.”
“Wow, that seems so cool!”
“Eh- Thank you.” Edgar quickly became flustered, “What would be your ability?”
“Oh,” The man scratched the back of his head, “It’s called ‘The Metamorphosis’, What I can do is… turn into a giant bug.” he explained nervously.
“Oh, that’s quite fascinating.”
“Really?” Franz looked surprised.
“Yes, why would it not be?”
“It’s just that-” Kafka sighed and shook his head before looking at Poe with a smile. “Never mind, it’s not important, but it’s so nice to meet another ability user.”
“Yes… it is nice.” Returning the smile, Edgar realized how well this was going for a conversation.
~
The point came in the night where people were starting to go home, Poe and Franz had been talking the whole time but as their conversation came to a pause, Poe realized he needed to feed Karl.
“Oh, I must go home.” Edgar exclaimed while looking at the café’s clock.
“Ooh, yeah I should go home too.” Kafka also noticed the clock.
As they stood up and walked to the door together, Lucy shot Poe a smug smile. When they exited out the doors and were about to part ways, Edgar turned to the other.
“I… I had a lovely time.”
“Me too.” Franz smiled back at him before changing expressions to something more unsure. “Would you maybe want to meet me again here?”
Poe froze, was he being asked out? How does he respond?
“Er- Yes, Yes I would love to.” He tried to act casual, but failed. “How- How about tomorrow?” Poe quickly regretted his words, was tomorrow too soon?
“I’m free at twelve, could we have lunch?”
“Sure,” Poe nodded, “Well- I’ll see you then, goodbye!”
Poe quickly hurried the other way, not believing his situation or how easy that was. Maybe it was strange how he rushed away but his brain felt clouded from all that was happening, he tried not to focus on the impression that could’ve made as he went home.
—----- A few days later -----—
Edgar Allan Poe found himself knocking at the door of the Armed Detective Agency, manuscript and snacks in his bag, and Karl on his shoulder. It had been a little while since he had come to see Ranpo, he had been busy, especially now that he was going out with Franz Kafka. They had already gone on a small number of dates since they met, but he found Franz easy to talk to.
His thoughts were disrupted by Ranpo excitedly swinging the door open, “Poe-kun! You came!” Edogawa grinned widely as he took Poe by the arm, dragging him inside the office where it was just them.
“I have a new manuscript.” Edgar smiled as he set the bag down on Ranpo’s desk, to which the shorter man already began helping himself to the sweets inside. Karl hopped down from his shoulder to lay on the desk as well. “This time I’m sure you won’t be able to figure-”
Poe’s words were sharply cut off by a loud cawing noise emitting from his pocket; he jumped at the sound due to always forgetting that it was his ringtone. Edogawa eyed the phone suspiciously as Poe lifted it to check the caller ID, it was Franz.
“Sorry, Ranpo, I have to take this.” Edgar apologized to Ranpo who nodded in understanding as he stepped back to answer the call.
“Hello?” Poe greeted.
“Hi, Poe.” Kafka’s voice sounded scratchy coming from the phone.
“What brings you to call?”
“I’m sorry but I have to reschedule our date on Friday, I forgot about a meeting I was having that day, does Saturday work?”
“Oh sure that works.” Responded Edgar.
“Great, thanks for understanding. I gotta go now, bye!”
“Goodbye.”
Poe hung up from the quick phone call and placed his phone in his pocket before walking back to Ranpo.
“Who was that on the phone?”
“Oh that was just my boyfriend.” Poe smiled as he sat down next to the other.
Ranpo’s voice turned cold as ice. “
What?
”