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Despite being on the lowest possible darkness, Edgar's phone was like a flashbang when it lit up on his nightstand. Despite the low darkness on the device, when it shone in the pitch dark of his room, it caused him to squint his eyes at it. Accompanying the sickening light was an obnoxious ring, and he fumbled to smack at his phone to get it to turn off. He was successful after a few futile attempts.
Unfortunately, the caller was not deterred and called back immediately. With this headache-inducing cry from his phone, he came to a realization. He turned his phone on do-not-disturb at night. He only had Ranpo on the exceptions list. Ranpo was the one calling him at this terrible hour.
He reached for his phone, blindly pressing random spots on the screen in hopes that it would pick up the call. He was still squinting sightlessly at the device;the light was close to unbearable.
Good grief, Ranpo, he thought as the call took its sweet time connecting, This better be for a good reason. Insomnia was a bastard, and tonight was the first time Poe had slept in a solid few. Usually, he wouldn't scorn a call from Ranpo, but God, was he tired. He'd taken a probably unsafe amount of sleep medication to get here, and why was this fucking call taking so long to connect?
Finally, after another far too long of waiting, the call crackled into connection, and Poe was instantly overwhelmed with the noise of rain beating against concrete and what sounded to be one of those flimsy plastic awnings. Oh yeah, Poe forgot it was raining. Probably the one near that really dingy comic store on the other side of town. He had been stuck under that awning during a rainstorm once, and he could remember vividly how loud it was. Ranpo wasn't speaking.
"Hello? Ranpo?" He spoke, finally cracking his eyes open enough to stare at the light-touched wall. It was a solid couple seconds before Ranpo responded.
"Wait- Poe? Did you pick up? Hello?" Ranpo rambled into the receiver, voice plagued by an uncommon hoarseness about it and repetitive sniffles.
"Yes, Ranpo, I'm here. Are you okay? Where are you?"
"I'm- I- I don't know!" Ranpo all but wailed. "I was at the cafe for dinner and I thought that I had learned Yokohama enough to take the train home but I got off at the wrong stop and then I took another train and then I walked around and I'm lost and all the fucking trains aren't running and it's raining and-"
Oh, goodness. Maybe it was a good reason after all.
"Oh, goodness, Ranpo. Okay, I'm on my way. Take a deep breath. Do you have even a vague idea where you are? Signs, shops, something like that?…"
"Uhm…" A moment of silence followed his trailing off, and Poe hurried to take the opportunity to head to his living room to get his shoes and his coat. Ranpo's speech resumed when he was closing his hands around his keys. "There's an intersection with some street signs. Can't read 'em in the dark though." [sniff!] "And, uhm, that's that brick wall with the weird political graffiti. I dunno what I'm standin' in front of."
Bingo. Poe knew exactly where that wall with the graffiti was, and right as he rarely is, he was correct about Ranpo being by the comic store.
"Alright, I'm on my way, now." Poe buried his phone under his arm when he ran out the door, essentially sprinting to his car to minimize the amount of rain landing on him. When a couple drops hit his forehead, he was greeted with the fact that it was rain and sleet, not just the former. Oh. Not a pleasant combination to be stuck out in. Especially not in the December chill. "Just stay where you are, alright?"
"Mhm." Ranpo sniffled. "Dunno where else I'd go,"
"I'm not sure either." Poe chuckled humorlessly.
__________
The drive to the spot was terrible. It was about a 15 minute drive in the darkness of 1 AM Yokohama, and unfortunately, a power outage a week or two ago had wreaked havoc upon the streetlights, causing them to remain unlit until maintenance could happen. So, Poe was stuck driving in the dark (even with his headlights), which he seldom enjoyed the act of. Ranpo stayed in silence on the other end of the phone the entire time. Though, Poe was occasionally reminded of his existence by a sneeze or a sniffle.
Eventually, after a treacherous and somewhat terrifying drive, he reached the intersection he had pictured in his mind, and sure enough, the smaller figure of Ranpo was standing under the striped awning.
"Ranpo?" He muttered at the phone. "I'm here."
"Wait, what?" Was asked with mild surprise. "Huh? I don't see you?"
Poe sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Right in front of you, dear. Look straight ahead."
"Oh!" And with that, the line died off with a chirp. Moments later, the passenger side door was being torn open by none other than a soaking wet Ranpo, shuddering as he got in.
He instantly shifted a bit on the seat like there was a pin under his ass. "Oh, sh-shit, I'm gettin' your seat all wet."
Poe just stared at him in horror. He was soaked to the bone, quivering like a leaf threatened by a violent gale, and his teeth couldn't stop chattering, but here he was, fretting over getting Poe's seats wet.
"Ranpo, darling, I do not care about the seats. You are my biggest priority right now."
"Oh." Ranpo hummed quietly, eyes fixed on his shoes as Poe shrugged off his coat, leaning over to tuck it around Ranpo's shoulders. Ranpo instantly pulled it tighter around his soaking form, and Poe felt a bit guilty for some reason.
"Can we go back to y-yours?" Ranpo asked quietly just before Poe could.
"Of course."
The drive was silent, pardon the occasional sniffle or sneeze. Every few minutes Poe spared a short glance at Ranpo, and holy hell, he was not looking good. His lips seemed to have an almost blue infliction to them as he huddled up in Poe's coat.
When they reached Poe's house, the rain had only intensified in its raging temper, and Poe began to wish that he grabbed his umbrella on the way out the door. Yes, it was not a mighty distance between the car and his house, but he'd hate for either himself or Ranpo to be rained upon more than they already have.
No umbrella presented itself at his silent wish, though, so he was forced to nudge Ranpo's elbow to make sure he was awake and gently murmur to him, "I don't have an umbrella, so we're just going to have to run to the door if we don't want to be soaked, alright?"
Ranpo just nodded sleepily as he swung the door open. Poe did the same.
While his phone was crammed under his arm, he used his hands as visors to shield his eyes from the torrential downpour. Good God, every drop felt like a bullet on his back. He felt terrible that Ranpo had been stuck out in this.
He didn't even see Ranpo behind him while he fumbled with the doorknob, but when it was open, the man darted around him and into the house, still reserving the politeness to take off his shoes at the doorway. Poe followed him in a moment later.
"I believe I still have some of your laundry here from that one time, so there's probably pants that fit you in one of the drawers. You can wear one of my shirts, if you'd like." Said Poe to a figure crouched on the ground, scratching between the ears of an eager Karl.
"That'd- that'd be nice. Thank you, Poe. " Ranpo stood slowly, swaying on his feet for a moment. Poe was quick to rush forward and catch him by the elbow.
"Are you alright?" Poe asked, a bit of panic in his tone. Ranpo brushed off the worry.
"Yeah, yeah, 'm fine." Despite his words, he leaned into Poe's touch a bit. "Jus' dizzy."
Poe did not let go of his elbow.
"That's not fine. Are you coming down with something? I wouldn't be surprised, given that you've been out in the rain-" Cold knuckles pressed against a flushed forehead- "Wait! Oh, shoot, I need to go get you dry clothes!" At that, Poe pulled away. Ranpo frowned at the disappearance of the contact. Poe seemed to miss the look on his face.
"You know where the towels are. Go dry your hair while I find some clothes for you."
Ranpo huffed and walked off to the bathroom while Poe went towards his bedroom. He should have some of Ranpo's clothes here somewhere…
Following a minute or two of searching for that pair of sweatpants he knew he had laying around somewhere, he was met with the sound of painful gagging from the bathroom, and he frantically stood and rushed to the noise. It wasn't a very pleasant sight.
Ranpo was hunched over the toilet, clinging onto the porcelain as he emptied the contents of his stomach into the bowl. Poe was quick to appear behind him and hold his hair out of his face, gently rubbing his back with his free hand. It was that painful kind of gagging, Poe guessed from the sound of it. The kind torn between a cough and something else that felt like it was ripping its way out of your throat.
When the fit was over, Ranpo rested his head against the cool glass of the bowl. Poe carded his fingers through Ranpo's hair and gently scratched at his scalp.
"C'mon, dear, head up. That's not sanitary."
"I don't caaareeee. Don' feel good. 'M cold. And my throat hurts."
"I do. And I'm sorry you don't feel good. C'mon, let's get you to bed."
With that, Poe hoisted his arms under Ranpo's and pulled him to his feet. Ranpo let out a sound torn between a groan and a whine, but he let himself lean on Poe and be led back to the bedroom. Ranpo had mostly finished the act of drying his hair, told by the only slight dampness left on Poe's fingers.
Poe managed to get him sat on the bed, where Ranpo promptly fell onto his side and curled up into a ball. Poe cast him a pitiful glance before returning back to rummaging though his drawers. Sure enough, he found the sweatpants he was looking for after another moment of search. It was simple enough to grab a random one of his own shirts and bring them over to Ranpo.
"Alright, found 'em." Poe huffed, gently poking Ranpo in the stomach until he reluctantly sat up. "Arms up. I'm still not convinced you're not coming down with something. Though, usually, one wouldn't vomit from a cold, which is what I would assume you're getting. Are you sure it's not something more serious?-"
"I dunno. I don't think I'm runnin' a fever or nothin'-" Yet again, ice cold knuckles pressed against a flushed forehead in the process of taking Ranpo's shirt off- "I only threw up cus' I coughed too hard."
"Oh. That's good, I think. Not that you threw up. That's bad. It's good that it's only because you coughed too hard- oh, sorry!" Poe apologized as Ranpo shot back, rubbing his cheek. Poe had accidentally slammed his knuckles into Ranpo's cheekbone when pulling off his dripping shirt.
"Ow! Damnit, that hurt!"
"I'm sorry!" Poe said apologetically, leaning towards Ranpo and gingerly swatting his hand aside to inspect his cheek. A deep shade of pink bloomed beneath the skin. It only seemed to redden more as Poe got close, his breath fanning over Ranpo's face for a moment. He held Ranpo's chin with his thumb and forefinger, slowly turning his head so Poe could get a better look. The growing spot blossomed across his cheekbone. "Oh, that's going to bruise. I'm so sorry, dear." He leaned in and placed a small kiss on the spot. Ranpo's entire face flushed red at that.
"Oh, stop that." He pulled away from Poe, though his face did not cease in its reddened color. "We can do that later. Help me get dressed. I'm cold."
"Oh, yes. Apologies." Poe chirped, his face not unlike Ranpo's in its newly acquired flush. He reached over and grabbed the shirt from the side of the bed and motioned for Ranpo to raise his arms above his head once more, to which Poe slid the shirt over his head. It was a random thing that Poe had pulled out of his drawers, but when Ranpo glanced down at it, he laughed quietly.
"It has a cat on it."
"Indeed it does. Amazing observation."
Ranpo laughed a little bit more at that. Poe wasn't quite sure why.
After another moment of hassle in getting Ranpo into the dry sweatpants, eventually Ranpo fell back over in the bed, and after changing his own clothes (he was mildly and uncomfortably damp by the rain,) he crawled into bed beside Ranpo and flicked off the lamp on the bedside table. As he sat up against the headboard, Ranpo did not hesitate to climb into his lap and lean against Poe's chest. Poe didn't protest and just wrapped a strand of the detective's hair around his finger.
"'M still cold. Can you hold me?" Ranpo asked, burying his head in the crook of Poe's neck.
"You've always told me that I run awfully cold." Poe chuckled quietly, pulling the blanket up to cover both of them before pulling Ranpo closer against his chest.
"You do, but, like, it's still warm to be held by someone. Warmer than this. 's cold."
Poe pressed a kiss against Ranpo's forehead, then his hairline, then the top of his scalp. The man just burrowed his face closer into Poe's neck.
"Noooo, come back." Poe whined, tugging lightly at a strand of Ranpo's hair. "I want to kiss you, come back."
After a moment, Ranpo pulled his head out of the crook of Poe's neck and allowed him to pepper his face with kisses, hovering especially over the bruised space of his cheek. Poe quietly hummed some kind of tune while showering his lover, and Ranpo just sat there and abided his boyfriend's torrent.
"Wow, somebody's clingy tonight." He mumbled, and in the darkness, Poe couldn't look at his face to discern his tone.
"Oh-" he pulled away, "am I being too overbearing? I'm sorry, dear-"
"No, Ed, I was being sarcastic. Get back here." Ranpo cupped both sides of Poe's face, pulling him closer until their foreheads met. "You sound exhausted."
"Wow, the world's greatest detective is full of the most pedantic observations tonight, is he? Well done, right, I am."
"It's late. We can go to sleep if you'd like."
"Eh, it'll take quite a time to fall asleep. I'm procrastinating on that long process."
Ranpo frowned. "Didn't you recently get sleep medication for your insomnia? Like… hydralazine or something?"
"Hydroxyzine, and yes, but I took too many of those earlier, so I am limiting myself from committing a potential overdose."
Ranpo remained silent for a moment, and Poe could imagine the blank stare he has right now, the one he always has when the gears are turning in his head. His hands fell from Poe's face. After a moment, he spoke up. "Wait, Poe, did I wake you up earlier?"
"Indeed, you did, but it's not a big deal. You needed help, so I-"
"Oh god, I'm actually so sorry-" Ranpo rambled, cutting off Poe mid-sentence- "I tried calling Yosano and Dazai but neither of them picked up-"
"Ranpo."
"-so you were my next option and I didn't mean to wake you up oh my god-"
"Ranpo."
"-I know how much trouble you have sleeping and iliterallywokeyouup ohmygodiamsuchabadboyfriend-"
"Ranpo!" Poe fussed for the third time, taking his own turn to cup his lover's face and bring him closer. When the other still tried to ramble his unnecessary apologies, Poe sent him silent with a quick kiss to the lips. At that, he could feel the heat rise to Ranpo's cheeks beneath his touch; he didn't even need to be able to see him.
"Ranpo. You needed help. We are quite literally dating. Of course I would wake up to come help you. Do not apologize. Nobody is angry at you."
Ranpo was silent for a moment, then another, then another, until he leaned forward to press his face back in Poe's neck.
"God, I love you." He mumbled sleepily. Poe just twirled a strand of Ranpo's hair around his finger.
"I love you too, darling. You sound sleepy. Can we get in a position that won't make my back hurt in the morning?"
Ranpo just hummed quietly, and Poe took that as an affirmative to maneuver them both into a more comfortable position with Ranpo as the little spoon, like usual. One hand curled wrapped around his boyfriend's waist and held him close, the other hand intertwining with his boyfriend's. He moved his thumb down to hand on top of Ranpo's pulse point; feeling it thrum beneath his thumb in a steady beat was quite soothing. Ranpo was asleep within moments. While, like usual, Poe didn't fall asleep for quite a while, he could swear that the feeling of Ranpo's heart beating beneath his fingertips lulled him to sleep faster than his medication ever could.