Heartbeats (Ranpo x Poe)

Baking and Blushing

Poe really hadn't known what to expect from a shopping trip with Ranpo but it ended up being both stressful and strangely fun. Ranpo was running around, asking for any and every sweet thing he could find. Poe had said no to most of them (he didn't have an abundant amount of cash after all) but he found himself often being easily persuaded by Ranpo's adorable pout.

Adorable? Poe thinks to himself, his face growing red. I really needed to stop thinking about such things.

Now that he was home however, they had gotten so much food he couldn't decided what to make. Poe wasn't the best at cooking (when he was by himself, he'd usually just get takeout somewhere) but he tried his best when it came to making food for someone else.

"Hey Ranpo-kun?" Poe called from the kitchen. "What do you want for dinner?"

Ranpo resisted the urge to answer with some cheesy pickup line like "your lips" or something along those lines and instead yelled, "Cookies!"

"We can't have just cookies for dinner." Poe protested.

"Fine, we can have something else too. How about cake?"

"Ranpo-kun..." Poe was about to shoot down the ridiculous idea when Ranpo started pouting again.

No, he told himself, you can not have cookies and cake for lunch (more like dinner at this point). You don't even like cake! But then Ranpo was also adding in puppy dog eyes and Poe thought he might have a heart attack at the sight.

Turning away so Ranpo hopefully wouldn't see the blush that quickly spread across his face, Poe mumbled. "Fine. I swear, you're impossible sometimes."

"Oh come on, you love me~" Ranpo teased. Before Poe even had time to process the words, Ranpo grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the kitchen with newfound excitement, "Let's go, I wanna make the cookies first!"

__________

After several hours of baking, laughing, and making a mess of Poe's kitchen, the two finally settled onto the writer's couch to watch a movie. Ranpo was still eating the last of the cookies and petting Karl while Poe searched for a movie they'd both like.

"What do you want to watch, Ranpo-kun?"

"Hmmm.... any horror movie is fine."

The movie started but neither of them were really paying attention to it, talking about other things instead.

"I've been thinking about trying to write a fantasy mystery novel next but I'm not sure if I can do the necessary world building." Poe explained.

Ranpo shrugged, "I'm sure it'll be fine. You're good at creating an atmosphere for your stories so I bet it won't be too hard."

Poe hoped Ranpo couldn't see his reddened face in the dim lighting. "Really?"

"Mhm."

There was silence for a few moments before Ranpo pipped up, "Hey, Poe-kun?"

"Yes?"

"You never answered my question earlier, about being in love."

"A-ah I guess you're right." Poe stared at his hands as he struggled to collect his thoughts. "Well I suppose I was once. Although I'm not sure it was really enough to be considered love."

"Tell me about him." Ranpo responded, not missing a beat.

"I thought you said I had a girlfriend."

"I was obviously just messing with you. You're clearly gay." Poe opened his mouth to say something, anything to stop his face from getting impossibly redder, but Ranpo was already talking again. "So, tell me about him."

"Well I met him b-before I joined the guild. Cliché as it sounds, I met him at a coffee shop. I mentioned I was in need of an editor and he happened to work for a publishing company. He was very kind and considerate. I only was with him for a few months before he got sick and died though." Poe was surprised he managed to keep his voice steady but he supposed telling this story didn't hurt as much after so many years.

Ranpo didn't know what to say to that so he said nothing until Poe asked him a question in return.

"What about you? Have you ever been in love?"

"No, not before now at least." Not giving Poe a chance to ask what he meant by that, Ranpo got up and announced, "I should probably go, it's already dark out."

Poe weakly nodded before also getting up. "I suppose it is rather late. Will you be able to get home by yourself?"

"No need, I'll just text Yosano-chan to pick me up!"

"Are you sure she'll answer the phone this late?"

"Of course!"

And low and behold, there was Yosano, looking just about ready to murder someone. "You're lucky I'm a good friend." She grumbled before dragging Ranpo down the street. "Thank you for dealing with him, Poe-kun!" She called back to him.

"I-it's no problem!" He said in return before going back inside where Karl was waiting for him. Poe fed him, turned off the TV, cleaned up the kitchen the best he could, and changed into more comfortable clothes before flopping down onto his bed, exhausted.

He lets out a long sigh as Karl curls up next to him.

"Damn it." he mumbled to himself. "I have got to stop blushing so much around him."

Hey sorry this chapter is a little shorter than the previous ones but this just seemed like such a perfect place to end the chapter. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! ~Rei