The World's Greatest Poker Player
Day 4: Playing board games | "I have no regrets." Bungou Stray Dogs: Ranpo Edogawa x Fem!Reader Warnings/Genre: fluff, suggestive but no smut, not proof read Word count: 1,152 Summary: Ranpo’s Ultra Deduction and your reality altering luck ability go head to head. AN: whether or not the twist towards the end is real, or ranpo allows it, is up to you. p.s. the flop, the turn, and the river refer to stages of a poker game
Read on AO3
With so many people working at the Agency now, the boss greenlit the idea to host a Christmas party in the office. After all, what else was a gang of stray dogs going to do, with nowhere to go, on Christmas Day?
Each desk was set with a different board or card game - Monopoly, Uno!, Catan, Cluedo… There would have been space for Scrabble, but Kunikida insisted his desk was not to be touched. He did not leave its side all night, watching innocent bystanders from behind his misted glasses.
You tried each of the games once, but strategy wasn’t your strong suit. You won one game of Uno! and lost at all the other board games - the ones where luck was not the only important factor in winning. Heavily, you fall into one of the couches in the corner, letting yourself sink far into its worn cushions. Dazai was watching from the opposite couch with an unreadable expression.
He throws a standard pack of playing cards on the table between you. That would have been enough to convince you, but of course, this was Dazai. Sparks were practically shooting from his head, “I’ve always wondered - can you beat The World’s Greatest Detective, bella?”
With a tut and a flick of your hair, you stride over to your colleagues playing Scrabble at your desk, and motion for them to move to the floor. Atsushi was not going to say no to you. With their tiles carefully replicated in the middle of the office’s green-tiled floor, you pull the poker set out of your top drawer - the one Dazai took the cards from.
The World’s Greatest Detective, aka Edogawa Ranpo, needed no convincing from Dazai, he sat at the other side of your desk in an instant, his eyes following your nimble hand movements as you distributed the poker chips between you evenly. “Does anybody else want to join?” You called out to the rest of the room. They all shook their heads; now was the time to watch. Even you didn’t know what would happen - you wondered if Ranpo did?
Your special ability was Good Luck. It didn’t always work in the way you wanted, but it got you to where you were today. Before joining the agency, you had made a living in casinos and then by playing poker professionally. Not once, in your life, have you ever lost a game. But facing off against the world’s smartest man (sorry, detective) left you stiff in your chair. He can’t read minds or break through poker faces, but he was your boyfriend too - he knew every single face you could make like the back of his hand. Chances are that your luck, your reality-altering ability, may not save you this time. Not against the talented Ranpo.
Twice! He’s beaten you twice now! Your chips dwindle - they’ve never done that before. Ranpo guards them nonchalantly, waving a lollipop around as he talks, “The World’s Greatest Detective really is unbeatable, huh?” he pops the sweet back into his mouth. One more time, you can’t walk away from this a total loser.
Yosano collects the cards and begins shuffling them, weaving them elegantly between her fingers. You close your eyes and exhale, turn it off, the sound of the cards slapping against each other is like music to your ears, give me something terrible. The last, and only, time you ever turned your luck off truly was terrible. Fukuzawa restrained it in you, a poor attempt to stop you from ‘swindling’ patrons at casinos. “It’s unbecoming of a future detective,” he’d said.
Well, you got it back two days later. Only because it became evident that you couldn’t live without it - a close call with the stairs, the lift, a car on the street. It was more trouble than it was worth, as you weren’t even able to leave the agency office - or indeed stay inside it - unharmed.
But this would be worth it, you decided, and Ranpo wouldn’t see it coming. Fukuzawa’s theory that it helped you function was being proven once again, for you cut yourself on your cards as you picked them up and you bruised your knee on the underside of the table in your excitement. You couldn’t be unluckier. A black two, a red three. There’s no way a sane person could win with this hand. Straight lipped and dead-eyed, you stare at Ranpo over your cards.
The flop. Both you and Ranpo are confident, you raise the bet and he matches. The turn. He hesitates when you raise your bet by a substantial amount, but pushes the same number of chips in anyway, “Call,” he mumbles.
The river. “All in,” your excitement is beating through your chest, you swallow the smile crawling onto your face. Ranpo’s too distracted by your erratic move. Surely you’ve got something good?
He contemplates for an eternity, jade eyes dart between his hand, the dealer’s hand, your face. Ranpo can’t see through you at all. This is the smart man’s dilemma, you’re beaming in your head, the most intelligent man in the world could never call such a foolish bet, no matter how good his cards were.
“I fold,” he throws his cards face up on the table, a whine tinges his voice.
“Ha!” You slam both hands on the table, startling Ranpo as he’s rocking on the hind legs of his chair. He quickly reaches for the desk to steady himself and looks at your measly two and three. If he just had the nerve, if he matched you at the end, he would have ruined you with the singular Ace in his deck. But he didn’t. He surrendered to you, of all people.
He huffed and crossed his arms, turning his face away from the amused laughter and chatter. “What an entertaining game!” Dazai clapped his hands together slowly, a disturbing smile spreading across his face.
“Anytime,” you bow to them all with exaggerated hand movements, relief washed over you as you felt luck, pure gold, returning to your veins.
Ranpo sulked all the way home. Not a single word, not a single sweet eaten, not a single brush of his fingers against yours. Just him trailing two paces behind while you still basked in the glory of your dramatic win.
Click! The front door of your shared apartment shuts behind you, there’s no time for you to lock it as Ranpo takes both your wrists in one hand and pins them above your head. He locks you in place with a knee between your legs, pushing up just enough to make you whimper.
Your boyfriend leans forward and whispers in your ear, “I’m gonna punish you for showing me up in front of everyone like that.” He presses his leg higher again into your core, just a little; just enough to leave you wanting more.
“I have no regrets,” you grin.
@12daysofchristmas
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