College AU Ranpoe where Ranpo needs to take a filler class for some reason and he picks Literature thinking it's just gonna be reading novels and answering questions. Lo and behold: it's not. He has to write entire essays analyzing poems and looking for authors' underlying intentions and reading between lines that honestly have no text between them. Dear god he's having a hard time. Words are meant to be direct and simple, sue him for not being good at this. Wdym the crow mentioned in verse 7 was a metaphor. Wdym when the poet said the sky was cloudy they didnt mean that the sky was cloudy.
He's scraping by this class where everything is subjective and abstract and terrible until he gets paired for a group project with the tall, reserved, victorian-time-traveler-looking guy in class. His grades for this subject are impeccable and you cant be dressed like that and not be into analyzing poetry or whatever.
(Poe is baffled that he has to work with the man he once swore to beat)
But, through coffee shop meetings and late nights at the library, the pair become friends. Ranpo comes to see that there is intelligence in the weaving of words and it is intoxicating to see what this man procures (he already knew Poe to be quite smart but oh has this been a welcome surprise), and Poe is letting go of his grudge because having Ranpo as a rival rather than a memory haunting his narrative is so much more thrilling than anyone could have prepared him for.
Poe helps Ranpo survive Literature class and its (in Ranpo's word) stupid verbosity, and Ranpo drives Poe to polish his writing into the brightest it's been.
Ranpo's cheery disposition, sharp wit, childlike joy, and brilliant mind sweep the rug from under Poe's feet. Oh no oh no oh no he's in Love. He's in love and he does the one thing his calloused hands can do about this: he writes poetry. He writes poetry just like ranpo struggles to grasp: wordy, ornate and exceedingly flowery. He trusts the mantle of metaphor over his verses will keep his feelings safe were ranpo to steal his journal.
Ranpo is just as smitten. Poe treats him as though he were invaluable, his voice velvety when he utters his name, his hands elegant and a bit bony (ranpo did not think hands could be so beautiful), and his mind absolutely captivating. Ranpo finds he does not actually mind many things when it comes to Poe: silence, shared spaces, time, kinda stupid questions, touch. Casual touch with Poe feels like second nature: heads leaning on shoulders, brushing hands, hugs, playing with the other's hair.
Ranpo will willingly pick the most sickeningly romantic poems to analyze for class and then ask poe for help breaking them apart, hoping he catches on. Hes smart. His way of dissecting words is brilliant and Ranpo wishes it were him on that hypothetical operating table, scalpel in Poe's hands (look at him, using his own dramatic metaphors. Poe's getting to him)
Eventually, Ranpo finds Poe's journals; the words meant as a lock to Poe's heart, but to the poet's misfortune, Ranpo had too good a tutor