IT HAD BEEN A FAIRLY PEACEFUL MORNING, all things considered. He had woken up on time, been able to save most of his breakfast from Karl, and wasn’t stopped by anyone on his way to the Agency. Best of all, Ranpo-kun, his favorite and only rival had asked for him - yes, him! - to join him on a case! Of course, that would affect his schedule for the day (not by much considering that it was just hours of hanging out with his rival), but who was he to decline?
Realistically, he should have expected something to go wrong, the day going far too well for it to just continue being good, but the excitement of helping the best detective in the world had clouded his judgement yet again.
At first, it had been fine, the officers chatting as they moved back and forth around the crime scene acting as comforting background noise to his ears as he and Ranpo made their way towards the body covered by a sheet. If anything, it reminded him of the crime scene investigations he would loiter around back in America, the wave of nostalgia bringing him a sense of comfort. However, whatever comfort he had quickly disappeared as Ranpo removed the sheet, allowing the corpse’s dull, lifeless eyes to stare out into the world; more specifically, at Edgar himself.
He quickly looked down, hands threading into his hair as he struggled not to panic at the realization that someone was staring directly at him, dead or otherwise. His eyes remained locked on the ground, teeth chewing on his lip in an attempt to muffle the worried sound from escaping his mouth. He wanted to do something, anything, to try and stop those soulless eyes from looking at him, but what could he possibly do?
Calm down, Poe. Just think of something, anything, you useless- oh God, Ranpo-kun just asked me a question. Quick, answer him! Wait, what would an appropriate answer be?! Did he even ask me a question or am I just overthinking it? But then why is he staring at me? Oh God, is everyone staring at me? Fuck, please just stop staring at me, please, please, please, please-
His internal rambling grinded to a halt as ten small pinpricks of pain flashed onto his scalp, forcing him to flinch. Quickly, he realized that he had been digging his nails into his scalp, pulling away his hands in embarrassment once he realized what he had been doing. “I- uh- I’m-” He winced at the sound of his own voice, small and pitiful even to his own ears. God, he really was a mess.
“I- I’m sorry, Ranpo-kun, but could… could you repeat the question… ifyoudon’tmind?”
“I asked if you were doing alright--- doesn’t look like it.”
The detective looks around, trying to look for the source of what may have set him off, made him so anxious. It didn’t take a genius to see, after all. Eyes flicker over to the corpse and then to the officers before making their way back to Poe. Odd...
Lips press into a thin line as he thought of what to do.
“You’re not going to be sick are you?” it was the first out of his series of questions to ask he had in his arsenal. But he had to be sure, making a mess of the crime scene wasn’t exactly a good thing... And if he was going to be sick, he’d have no issue pulling him off to the side where he could breathe and get away from the people in the area. It wasn’t uncommon to see it happen to someone once in a while, after all.
He reaches his hand out to rest it on the other’s arm, both to give him something else to focus on and pull him away from whatever had him so distracted and distressed.
“If you are --- you need to let me know.” his words are blunt and spoken with a sternness behind them. But he’s calm.
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