Chapter Text
It was Ranpo's birthday, but the Agency was more than empty today as there's no one around. For some reason everyone got out for missions. He happened to leave his special pair of glasses, the one that Fukuzawa gave him when he was 14 and he was using it ever since, at home. It's either he was getting forgetful or he just decided to do so to not ruin the ADA's surprise for him. Fukuzawa must be in his office but for some reason, Ranpo doesn't feel like bothering his father at the moment. He was bored and lonely. Of course, only until he heard some familiar knocks on the door to the office. He knew it was Poe's, and as the amazing boyfriend he is, he immediately ran to the door and greets his boyfriend in.
He skipped to the door, so excited that he almost tripped on his foot. The door knob twisted, revealing the detective a tall figure with pomegranate color hair covering his eyes and so did the dark circles under them, the same old fashioned clothes just like always. He didn’t bring Karl with him this time so the two would have their time alone together.
"Ed!" Ranpo beamed and he jumped up, hugging and clinging onto Edgar. He had his arms around Edgar's neck to support himself from falling, his feet were inches away from the floor now as he swung it back and forth a little like a kid. Edgar was holding things in his hands, which Ranpo assumed was a birthday cake and some sort of riddles and books for him. The taller kept his arms open as the gifts were swinging back and forth, getting slower by time and then stopped.
"R-Ranpo, my dear, please let go! At least let me place these things down first!" Edgar was blushing, also trembling a little by how heavy Ranpo was, but mostly because he was also very much embarrassed. Ranpo just grinned and placed a kiss on Edgar's lips before deciding to let go and hopped down. He held Ed a little as he stumbled and soon enough pushed him into the office.
Edgar got in and placed the gifts on the guest's table before turning around and wrapped his arms around the younger one, giving him a tight and warm embrace, just enough so that Ranpo could enjoy and not feel overwhelmed by the physical touch. Ranpo giggled before hugging his lover back, rocking them both a little in a comforting rhythm and pace. He peaked his head up and looked at Edgar with a happy smile on his face, Edgar immediately knew what Ranpo was asking for as the leaned down, getting his face closer to the boy's and planted a kiss on his cheek, he did it a several time more, slowly moving closer to the lips so that he can kiss the detective as much as he could. They both melted at each other's touch.
When they finally pulled away, Ranpo blushed and giggled.
“Finally got used to my kiss?~”
“...Yes. Yes, I guess I did.” And Edgar chuckles back. “The office seems to be quite… empty , today.”
“Yeah, it is. But I don’t feel lonely because you’re here! The other must be busy with some mission, maybe even trying to plan a surprise birthday for me!”
For a brief moment, Ranpo thought that he heard Edgar sighed, sounded almost sad and painful but before he could ask, Edgar already picked him up and brought him to sit down at the guest’s table. They sat there and, as usual, chatted for a while. It was mostly only Ranpo at first, he mostly talked about how his days had been, some cases that he solved before and about some other member of the ADA that he’s close with. He only stop once he’s about to end of things to talk about or when he really was, that’s when Edgar started to pick up the conversation, how he was and some other things about two other Guild member which were Louisa and Francis, stuffs that Karl did daily which not much but surely was cute and also some new riddles that the writer came up with. Edgar seemed to be so happy that he was in fact talked more than usual, almost more than Ranpo. They had their fun. Though, there was something odd on Ranpo’s mind. Why was everything he knew about suddenly so blurry? Why couldn’t he remember any of his latest cases? What happened?
Ranpo wanted to brag about it, almost, to ask about it, but before he could, Edgar took out a box wrapped in a paper that has black cat decor patterns and a golden ribbon on top of it.
“It’s nothing much, just another mystery novel I wrote for you. I hope that you’ll enjoy it.”
“Oh Ed, you know I enjoy everything about you!”
Ranpo said it in an almost playful and flirty tone, though, both of them know of course he meant it. He immediately unwrapped the gift and saw a thick blackish green leathered book inside, the book was named ‘Ranpo’. The detective seemed amused, he chuckled and looked up at Edgar, joking about if the book being a autobiography it should've been written by him, only to meet the writer’s uneasy and serious expression. He could tell Edgar was wanting and waiting for you to open the book, and so, he did. The first thing he saw once he opened the book was his glasses, his very own glasses that his father gave him. There was a big space in the book that got cut off into a rectangle shape so that the glasses fit perfectly inside it. He was puzzled, why did Edgar have his glasses? He took it out and rested it on his head, right above his eyes so that he could bring it down soon later. He flipped the pages and saw Edgar’s hands writing, of course, as beautiful as always, he looked through, reading the pages fast only to find out that Edgar was writing him, not about him, but it was him, Edogawa Ranpo. How he looked, how he acted, his mind and thoughts, likes and dislikes, his experiences, his history, every memory he had, everything.
He didn’t understand.
For the first time, he really didn’t. Even after he put on his glasses.
“...Edgar? What happened? I… I don’t understand.”
And he saw Edgar’s pained look.
“I just wanted to return the glasses to you.”
A long pause.
“You died, Ranpo. You died.”
Those two words rang in his head.
Oh.
Oh.
He never survived that fight he had with Fukuchi.
Everything was clear by then, everything he remembered, everything and everyone he knew and once met was all written by Edgar, of course, the writter couldn't write everything, so that was why his memories were so blurry.
Another long pause. The silence was loud. Loud enough to kill them both, to kill Ranpo again. He hated it. They both hated it.
The two just sat there, no one saying anything nor opening their mouths. One only moved when the other started choking out a cry. They held each other close, that was no longer a warm embrace but a grip, a desperate grip onto the other man, hoping all of this was just a dream, a nightmare. Sadly, it wasn’t. It was reality.
“...”
“...”
“How long has it been?”
“Two years.”
“Other than me, did anyone…”
“No, they all survived.
“Thank God…”
A relief sighed.
“How’s Fukuzawa?”
“As healthy as ever. He has not moved on yet, he didn’t show it but I can tell. That's why I didn’t bring him here.”
“Yosano?”
“She couldn’t bring herself to see you again, I assumed the same from everybody else. She asked me to give you a pack of candy, I left it with the cake..”
“...Why did you return this to me? I thought that I wanted you to keep it?”
“Yes, but it’s yours. And I’m returning this.”
“...You won’t be seeing me again.”
“Correct.
“This is the last time I’ll ever see you?”
“Depends.”
“On what?
“On you.”
“Why me?”
“Because I wanted you to."
“...Of course you do."
“Of course I do.”
“...”
“...”
“What’s the choice?”
“I will forever stay here with you, spending the rest of your life with you. Or I will leave forever.”
“...”
“You can be selfish, Ranpo-”
“Don’t. Please, don’t.”
“...”
“I’m not him, Ed. I’m dead. He’s dead.”
“Ranpo…”
“You need to move on.”
“...I can’t.”
“You can. Just not now, not yet. It will take time, Ed.”
“...”
And the grip on Ranpo’s cloak tightened, so hard that Edgar’s fists started trembling and the knuckles turned white. Ranpo didn’t stop him. The answer was too clear, they both knew it, and one was in denial. They had their time well spent, holding the birthday party that only two of them were there. They ate cake, sang, kissed, but stopped right before they both decided to go another step forward. It would just hurt Edgar more, not physically. He wouldn’t hate it, nor regret, he’d just miss Ranpo.
Soon, it was the end. Edgar was standing at the exit. He looked back inside one last time. Ranpo was standing in the middle of the office, wearing the glasses and looking at him with a warm smile, his green eyes glimmered as he waved good bye.
"Good bye, Ed. Don't make me seeing you again too soon."
Edgar just nodded, he smiled back and walked out the office, closing the door behind him.