Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Detective Edogawa Ranpo is a 26-year-old from Yokohama, Japan. Although his heart belongs in Yokohama, his job requires him to move around the world and he honestly doesn't mind; his biggest dream when he was a child was to travel the world and now he gets paid a handsome salary to do so. This time he's required to travel to "Baltimore, Maryland" (that's where Hannibal Lecter lives, Ranpo thought to himself) - that's at least 20 hours non-stop flying and of course Ranpo is going to need to be in first class or else he wouldn't be able to survive it. His salary is good, but not good enough to be spending thousands of dollars on a single plane ticket.

Apparently, he needs to investigate a man by the name of "Edgar Allan Poe" ("what a stupid name," he thought), who's had numerous complaints from his neighbours and has, apparently, been acting odd ever since he moved into the house - no one actually knows, or remembers, when he first moved into this house.

"Why the hell do they need a detective from Japan for this...?" he complained in his head after he finished reading the super long email from his boss, sucking on his favourite lollipop flavour (watermelon). He scrolled down a bit and saw a file attached to the email and it turned out to be a plane ticket directed from Yokohama to Baltimore; it was also first class, just as he wanted! He saw that it left at 7 tomorrow morning which was a sign that he needed to pack his bag and so he did just that. When it came to the "suspecting neighbours" cases such as this one, Ranpo found that it was always either a cannabis farm in the basement or a dead body. Those were always easy to solve so for those he usually just packs 4 outfits, but something in his head told him that he's gonna need way more than 4 outfits for this specific case - he trusted his intuition, which was the thing that made him a living and listened to it. He finished packing his bag and sucking on his lollipop, brushed his teeth and finally went to sleep at 10:07pm.

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After 19 hours, Edogawa Ranpo was finally in the US. As he walked out of the airport with the bustling crowd surrounding him, the chaotic sounds of the airport getting quieter the further away he strolled from the airport, he called a taxi to his hotel to drop his suitcase off and make himself look presentable, and after he did that he called another taxi to finally take him to the place he fled 19+ hours for.

"207 E Highfield Rd..." Ranpo told the taxi driver off of a crumpled piece of paper, who nodded in return. He stuffed the paper into his pocket and leaned back in his seat, watching the people, streets and cars pass by. He watched in amazement how within a few minutes the houses transformed from being tiny and rundown, to average size and fairly clean, to full-on mansions with fountains in their front garden. This meant that he was getting closer to his destination.

He finally reached his destination. Ranpo paid the driver and thanked him and finally stepped out of the car. He nearly fell back when he saw the massive gates decorated with metallic flowers and vines towering over him - they were about the size of a double-decker bus. Ranpo took out another lollipop and started walking towards the gate which automatically unlocked and stared opening as soon as he reached out his hand; he stood there in shock, because his fingertips barely even touched the surface of the gates but they still opened almost as if some invisible deity did it for him. He shrugged this off and set off to find the front entrance of the house, because rich people's houses are always a maze. His hand in his pockets, and his lollipop still in his mouth and his tongue swirling around it, spilling the sickeningly sweet flavour onto his taste buds, he observed his surroundings: there was a massive fountain in the centre of an impossibly well-kept garden full of roses of various different colours, a gazebo adorned in even more blood-red roses with a brass table and a set of 4 chairs around it, all decorated with even more brass roses. There was a massive abundance of greenery - lots of bushes and roses. Especially roses. It's obvious this suspect of a cannabis farm/kidnapping really liked roses. The actual house finally came into his view - it was a very old-fashioned house, probably built a few years ago but it was obviously inspired by the gothic architecture of the 1800s. It fits the description of a typical gothic-inspired house: stone facades, steep roof pitches, arch-style windows, and a large chimney. Ranpo finally reached the main entrance which swung open as soon as his foot stepped on the entrance mat; the main door was also huge, and was engraved with roses, and for some reason, a skull. Ranpo stepped inside and looked around; a golden and crystal chandelier on the impossibly tall ceiling and more various golden furniture but the walls and floor both seemed ancient and dirty and he could even smell a slight trace of blood, even though everything seemed so clean and shiny it was nearly blinding. The hallway he was in consisted of 3 fairly normal-sized archways and a grimy looking carpet covering a large portion of the floor; there were also many archaic paintings in tarnished golden frames - they all had a recurring theme of dead animals and violence; in the centre of them all was a great portrait of a very pale-looking man, who had a fashion style similar to that of the late 1800s. This suspect was very into vintage architecture, Ranpo guessed. He returned his gaze in front of him and-

Another man was standing at the previously empty spot. He was tall ("why is everything here so huge?"), pale and was dressed in a dress shirt, black dress pants, black boots and a black cape. His long, dark auburn hair was completely covering his eyes. His fashion style was very similar to the mysterious man in the painting's and Ranpo immediately shook himself into focus and cleared his throat.

"Hello. My name is Edogawa Ranpo and I was called here to-"

"I am aware that you're a detective and came to investigate me. You're from Japan, aren't you? Come on in." the tall stranger (Ranpo assumed this was the Edgar Allan Poe) interrupted him in a monotone, American accent and strolled off elsewhere. Ranpo scoffed at being interrupted but nevertheless wiped his feet on the second entrance mat and followed the stranger into his house, the door that he just went through shutting gently behind him, which made him jump slightly.

The stranger led Ranpo into a slightly smaller but nevertheless spacious room; it was surprisingly clean, at least compared to the entrance hall. Ranpo sat at the table with at least 8 grandiose chairs and continued sucking on his lollipop.

"Tea? Coffee? I have some wine as well." the stranger politely offered to Ranpo from somewhere in the kitchen, to which Ranpo responded with, "No thank you."

After a few minutes, the stranger finally joined Ranpo at the table and placed a small plate of various homemade cookies and also a small jug of water with 2 glasses, just in case.

The stranger cleared his throat and said, in the same monotone voice, "I am sorry for not introducing myself properly. I am Edgar Allan Poe, the owner of this great house, as you might know. I know why you're investigating me; you don't need to recite me a whole speech about why you are here." Ranpo slightly raises his eyebrows and continues sucking on his lollipop which again gives no reaction from Poe. Although his face does go an ever so slightly shade of red, which, to Poe's relief, Ranpo doesn't notice. Poe pours them both a glass of water and passes one to Ranpo; the whole time, Ranpo is eyeing him suspiciously. He stares at the glass of water Poe poured for him for a few seconds and finally drank it. The whole time, Poe stared at him with a blank expression.

"So," Poe finally said, placing his elbows on the table and his chin on his hands, "why don't you start investigating me now? Since that's what you're here for. You can start with my office, if you'd like," he smirked, "Or my bedroom." He suggested, staring at Ranpo with one eye visible between two thick strands of hair; he had gray-coloured eyes, much to Ranpo's surprise. He slightly choked on his spit when Poe said that and raised himself up and took the lollipop out of his mouth.

"Very well. Lead me to your office, then, please." Poe nodded and lead Ranpo back into the hallway, taking him through one of the other archways; in there was a great set of dark oak stairs covered in a deep, dark crimson coloured carpet, that started off wide and got slightly narrower at the top; they also split off at the middle, but they both lead to the second floor. At the same level as the little platform, where the stairs split off into two sections, there was a large stained-glass window. It portrayed a man in a great black cape, surrounded by roses and skulls. It was a great sight to see. However, Ranpo didn't get to thoroughly analyse it as Poe was inhumanly fast; his walking speed was probably around the same as Ranpo's running speed.

Chapter Text

They finally reached the top of the stairs and Ranpo was exhausted. Despite his athletic build (it's genetic), he actually isn't athletic at all. Poe however seemed completely unfazed and continued towards one of the 13 doors, with Ranpo running behind him, trying to catch his breath. The owner of the house stopped in front of a door and stared at Ranpo with a look of pure confusion.

"Are you seriously out of breath from walking up 47 stairs...?"

"No..." Ranpo took a deep breath, "I'm not. I'm just tired!!" Ranpo scoffed, which earned him an eyeroll from Poe who opened the door leading them to what Ranpo guessed was his office.

Ranpo stepped inside, with Poe following suite and shutting the door behind them. It was super hard to see what was in there as the curtains were all closed, with no lights turned on; the only sources of illumination being a tiny slither of light from a crack between the curtains, and a small candle. Ranpo let himself sit on the chair and, with the candle in his hand, began to study the contents of the desk - an abnormal amount of pens, fountain pens, notebooks, piles of pieces of paper, etc. He moved down to where the desk's drawers were and opened them one by one. Meanwhile, Poe was in front of the desk, looking at the other man anxiously.

"How many pens do you need?" Ranpo questioned Poe, who scoffed in return, "As many as required."

The detective continued searching through the drawers when he finally got to the last one, which contained a little wooden box engraved with roses and skulls. Upon opening it, his face lit up - it was a musical box! A beautiful melody started playing out and the little girl in a long red dress started to spin. Poe practically jumped at Ranpo trying to grab it out of his hands, which he was successful in doing so - and Ranpo took notice of just how pale Poe actually was.

"Hey, what's wrong-"

"N-nothing. You can carry on. Just, before you open any box, please ask for my permission beforehand..."

Ranpo frowned. "Sorry, Mr. Poe. May I take a look at your bookshelf?"
“Y-you can call me Edgar, or Ed, if you want,” the other man stammered after nodding.

“Okay, no problem, Ed!” Ranpo said cheerfully to which Poe blushed.

Ranpo stood up with the candle still in his hand and began to study the massive bookshelf that was just behind the desk. It mostly consisted of lots of Japanese learning textbooks, classic novels, vampire books, unopened packs of paper, notebooks, and even the complete Twilight collection, which made him let out a quiet giggle. He then took out a small notebook from his pocket and wrote everything he saw in it and put it back once he finished.

He looked over his shoulder and saw Poe standing near the door, the musical box still in his hand. He placed the candle back on the desk and walked over to Poe. "I'm done. Could you please take me to another room?"

Poe looked up at Ranpo with one of his dark-circled eyes and said, "Yeah, sure." He opened the door and led Ranpo to the next room - all the while, Ranpo took out his notebook again and noted how depressed Poe looked at that moment.

"This is my bedroom." Poe pointed out and let Ranpo go in first. He strutted in and allowed himself to sit down on Poe's bed and looked around; the curtains were closed again, making the room even darker than the previous one, as the curtains were propely closed this time. It was illuminated by 2 small candles on the dresser opposite the king-size bed.

The Japanese man rose up and headed over to the big window blocked by curtains. "Hey is it okay if I open the curtains? I can't see anythi-"

"NO!" the American yelled, making Ranpo jump.

“Jeez, okay…” Ranpo muttered, and took out his phone to turn on the flashlight. He looked around and noticed that it was relatively bare compared to the mess of the office. Well, the furniture looked like it was from the 1700s but other than that it looked like nothing special. He pointed his flashlight back at the bed and saw that there was a sizeable lump in the middle of it.

Ranpo furrowed his eyebrows and poked the lump which ended up making a muffled noise and it started moving.

“What the fu-“ Ranpo exclaimed and Poe started laughing behind his back. Ranpo turned around to face the other man and said,

“Why are you laughing???? There’s something, probably a big rat, hiding under your blanket, we both saw it, and you’re not doing anything about it-“

“Calm down, Ranpo. Its just my-“ Poe replies, trying not to piss himself from laughing, “my cat!”

Ranpo stops freaking out and his mouth practically falls open. “You have a cat-?”

At that moment, the mysterious creature jumps out from under the blanket and runs into Poe’s arms, as if it were trying to introduce itself.

“His name is Karl. You can hold him, if you want to.” It turns out to be a medium-sized, black short-haired cat, with piercing amber eyes that seemed endless. Ranpo reached out his arms to make it easier for the cat to jump onto him from Poe’s arms, and it jumped on Ranpo’s legs almost immediately.

“I think I’m wasting my time. You seem like a pretty normal guy,” Ranpo started, while scratching Karl behind his ears who started purring, “I mean, apart from your whole 1700s house decor and fear of natural sunlight, but I don’t think that’s something worth calling a whole detective from Japan for…”

Poe laughed nervously and changed the subject. “Haha, yeah… I think Karl likes you. On the rare occasion that I invite someone over, he’d usually run away and hide somewhere until everyone else was gone. But I guess you’re different…”

Ranpo grinned. “Well, I like him too.” to which Karl loudly meowed as if he was saying “thank you”. “Anyways, I’m getting kinda hungry. Do you have something I can snack on?? I’m sorry for being so upright but being a detective is hard work, you know.”

Poe giggled and replied, “yeah, of course! I should still have some leftover cookies and I can make some tea as well.” He started heading towards the door, and Ranpo let Karl jump out of his hands to follow Poe. He exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

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Downstairs in the kitchen, Ranpo was stroking Karl who was laying on the kitchen table and Poe was somewhere in the kitchen making the tea.

“Eddddd, do you have any herbal tea or something? Or any tea from Japan specifically? I’m not sure if I’m mentally, physically, or spiritually ready to try American tea yet…” Ranpo joked and a laugh from the kitchen followed.

“Of course, I think I have some herbal tea but it’s from China. Is that alright?” Edgar called from the kitchen.

“Yeah, perfect!”

A few minutes later, Poe came out of the kitchen with a teapot and two tea cups, as well as a treat on a plate for Karl. He set it down on the table and sat down across Ranpo.

“Oh shit, it’s already 7, time goes by so quickly in America!” Ranpo pointed out after checking the time on his phone as Poe was pouring both of them tea and Karl was nibbling away on his treat.

Poe frowned. “So you’re going?”

“Yeah. I’ll be back tomorrow morning though, don’t think you’re free from me yet,” Ranpo joked again and Poe smiled weakly.

“Alright. I’ll lead you to the door then. But finish your tea first!”

“Wait, Poe, can I ask you something?” Poe stared at him curiously, “Are you team Edward or Jacob?”

A few minutes pass and the 2 men (and one cat) are back at the front door, but the atmosphere is more relaxed and friendly this time.

“Do you have a ride back to the hotel? I can order you a taxi or something. I’d drive you back home but I don’t have a car… or you can take the train, I can show you where the train station is…” Poe rambled as Ranpo was putting his coat back on.

“No, it’s okay, I already ordered a ride. And I… don’t know how to use a train. But thank you for worrying about me.” Ranpo blushed when he said this. Poe smiled and turned his face away to also hide his face getting hotter. (these bitches gayyyyy)

A slightly awkward silence followed which was interrupted by Ranpo saying, “alright, I’m out! Tomorrow at 8 in the morning, yeah?”, unlocking the door and heading back to the the gate and meeting his cab driver outside.

As soon as Ranpo shut the door, the American man turned to face Karl, who was busy licking his paw, and blurted out:

“Karl, I’ve only known Ranpo for a few hours yet I am so captivated by him; his sense of humour, his intelligence, everything about him is mesmerising. I don’t know how he’ll react if - no, when, he’s smart enough to figure it out eventually - he finds out what I truly am, I’m afraid he will hate me for my monstrous nature. My ancestors have committed many heinous crimes in the past and I am trying to leave that behind me and be a modern, Normal, unsuspecting civilian. I think I’ve messed up too much today. He has too much information to work with. He is probably back at his hotel now, trying to figure out what is wrong with me. But he probably already has. Karl,” He picks up Karl and gives him a gentle hug, “I am scared that when he finds out my true nature, he’ll report me to the police and I will be sent away and executed. And you will be sent away to a stranger’s home or forced to live on the streets.” He starts walking up the stairs, towards his office, and closes the door behind him with Karl still in his hands.

“And I will never let them take you away from me, my dear Karl. You are all I have left. I will do whatever it takes to make sure dear Ranpo doesn’t find out - and if he does, I will whatever it takes to make sure he doesn’t babble to the cops.”

He sets Karl down on the floor, and heads to his desk. Tonight will once again be a sleepless night. He took out the musical box that Edogawa Ranpo found today and set it down on the desk and let it play out the beautiful melody, watching the girl spin around solemnly.