Chapter Text
Poe was correcting reports for Ranpo again. His best subject was language arts so it made since for him to correct the reports for him. The weird thing is, Edgar wasn’t even apart of the student council. He didn’t mind helping Ranpo out whenever he could, but he didn’t want to accidentally mess up and the student council gets blamed. The student council president, Dazai Osamu, was well known and terrified around the school. In actuality, he was lazy and slacked off left and right. His laziness is the reason why Ranpo gave him the job of reading and correcting in the first place.
He finished today’s pile at five, and he headed home for the day. When Ranpo first recruited him, they walked home together. Now, he usually left with the rest of the student council. Most of the time, he liked being alone. But when it came to Ranpo, he wanted to spend all the time in the world with him. He’s never actually had a crush or been in love, but what he feels for Ranpo has to be that feeling love novels describe.
Before he could leave the school, he was stopped by a short red head. He thinks his name is Nakahara Chuuya, they were in the same class in their first year.
”Ah Poe-kun! I’m so glad I caught up with you!”, Nakahara said in loo of a greeting.
”It’s nice to see you again Nakahara-san”, Poe responded dully.
Nakahara made a face, “Just call me Chuuya, everyone does. Anyways, the reason I was looking for you is I was wondering if you wanted to join the literary club. You’re always reading at lunch so I figured you were into that stuff!”
”No”, He deadpanned and attempted to leave.
”Huh?!”, Nakahara exclaimed, “Wait get back here!”
Nakahara chased him to the front gate before finally getting ahold of him again. He stared at Poe as he tried to catch his breath from the short chase. Nakahara was known to be very athletic; Poe barely leaves his house so this whole situation was embarrassing.
”Just try it out!”, Nakahara urged once Poe caught his breath.
”I can’t, after school I have to correct student council reports for Ranpo-san”, Poe tried to escape again.
”So? Check it out just for today! I promise you will love it”, Chuuya was already dragging him back into the school.
”Okay”, He murmured and let himself be pulled to the literary club.
The literary club was on the third floor, it was room three hundred and nine. By the time they reached that point Poe was out of breath and was glaring at Nakahara; who seemed to be in perfect condition.
The red head slammed open the door. Upon their arrival, a boy he doesn’t really recognize doesn’t even flinch and just puts his book down.
“I’ve got are third member! Now we don’t have to shut down! The stupid mackerel can suck it!”, Chuuya yelled.
The guy coughed, “Nice”, Was all he said, he then went back to his book.
”That’s Akutagawa. He’s not a very enthusiastic guy, he actually hates everyone”
“I’ll kill you”, Akutagawa’s tone was cold.
”I’d like to see you try”, Nakahara sassed.
“I’ll take you up on that later”, After saying that, he went back to reading his book. It was the classic, “Of Mice and Men”
”Oh this is Poe, we were in the same class in first year. He reads lot and I’m pretty sure he writes poetry”, Chuuya told Akutagawa, the boy in question didn’t seem to be paying attention.
”Nice to meet you”, Poe stuttered.
Akutagawa’s cold eyes stared him up and down. He had to stop himself from physically flinching. Poe kind of wanted to run away or hide from Akutagawa. He seemed scary. He coughed again and went back to his book. Poe let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
”So”, The duel haired boy spoke up after reading a couple pages, “Why’d you invited him here?”
Nakahara spluttered slightly, “I just told you five seconds ago-“
“You only invite people here who are suffering from unrequited love. Or at least that’s why Ozaki-san invited you here. It’s why you invited me. And it’s also why she left when Yosano confessed to her. So, Who doesn’t love Poe?”
Poe stared at him like he grew two heads. He was sure that he kept his crush well hidden, but had Nakahara really noticed? His first thought was to run out of there but he decided against it. Akutagawa did say that the two of them were also suffering from unrequited love, so they couldn’t use his crush on Ranpo against him.
Chuuya had enough courtesy to look guilty. But, Poe didn’t really care at this point. He let out a small sigh and starting to fiddle with his fingers. He hated the feeling of being exposed but at least they were all in the same situation.
”It’s Ranpo”, He found himself saying, “I’m in love with Ranpo. And as you can tell, it’s unrequited”
Akutagawa gave him a side ways glance, “The treasurer of the student council? I’m starting to see a theme”
”A theme?”
Nakahara answered for him, “All of our quote un quote unrequited loves are in the student council. This is what the literary club actually is. A place for broken hearts”
”I was long aware that my love would be unrequited from the day I realized my feelings for him. I’m not heartbroken, so I find no need for your club. I’m going now, thank you for the invite Nakahara, but I would like to decline”, Poe bowed slightly.
He turned to leave but Nakahara made sure he had the last word, “I’ve always known my feelings wouldn’t be returned by that asshole, but it didn’t hurt less. Rethink my offer and give me your answer by Friday”
He wanted to throw something at Nakahara, he highly doubted he would get his heartbroken enough to join the club in less than three days.
However he found himself agreeing to his offer. There was something that drew him to the small club. Maybe it was Chuuya’s confident personality, or Akutagawa’s apathy. Or maybe, it was a place where he could finally share feelings with his peers.
__
Poe was working on more reports during his lunch break. The student council must be working really hard if he gets this much work! He’s happy to help anytime he can but this might be a little make than he could handle. He wanted to go back home and write some poetry, maybe get some sleep today. Oh! Poe almost forgot that he had to feed Karl, he was eating a lot more recently.
“Poe!”, Nakahara’s voice reached his ears and he wanted to jump out the window next to his desk.
He wasn’t used to anyone actively looking for him, Ranpo did when he wanted reports finished but it’s usually Poe looking for Ranpo.
”Nakahara”, He responded with a lot less enthusiasm.
He took no time to stride over to his desk. The rest of the class was starting to look at him and it made his skin crawl. He wanted to tell Nakahara to go back to his own classroom and leave him alone. He remained stubbornly silent.
”Damn! You’re doing reports on your lunch break!”, Chuuya paused for a second, “But Dazai said that the student council wasn’t doing much now a days. It wouldn’t make sense for you to get so much reports to correct”
Poe felt his heart drop to his stomach, “Unless, I’m getting future plans so they don’t have to deal with it when they get swamped with events”
Nakahara gaped at him, “That’s bullshit! You’re not even apart of the student council you shouldn’t be given this much work; it isn’t your problem! You know what they can go fuck themselves!”
”Nakahara”, Poe urged.
“Sorry”, He didn’t sound sorry, “Maybe I should kick that sly bastards ass for you”
”No, it’s fine really! I like doing work for Ranpo!”, Poe waved his hands in defense.
Nakahara’s dark blue eyes studied him. He felt the urge to cover himself. He bit his lip so he wouldn’t scream at Nakahara to stop looking at him. He could feel his classmates eyes glued to him as the red head eyes roamed all over him.
”Join my club. If you don’t it will get shut down. Everyone club requires at least three members, we had that until Ane-san left, your our last chance Poe. Please”
”But-“
“You can still correct reports and be in the literary club. Give me a yes by Friday. See you!”, With that the enigma of Nakahara Chuuya finally left.
Poe put his head down on his desk, avoiding his classmates questioning stares. He truly didn’t mind helping out Ranpo, but if he’s doing work they don’t even need yet; he didn’t see the point of doing it. An ugly part of him told him he should just drop everyone. He wasn’t meant to be good with people. Unfortunately, his love for Ranpo made it hard to agree with this ugly side. If he could be useful to Ranpo everything will be okay.
He closed his eyes and let himself drift into a peaceful sleep (or as peaceful as his sleep could get). When he was woken up he half expected to see Nakahara’s face, but he was surprised to see Ranpo playing with his hair.
”Ranpo! I finished the reports if you’re here to collect them!”, He stuttered out. His face had to be bright red.
”Thank you”, He said easily, taken the reports from under Poe’s arms.
”Anytime, really I like writing and correcting things”, God, he sounded like such a loser.
He heard a cough come from the door followed with a, “Pathetic”
Poe looked up and met Akutagawa’s unwavering eyes. He almost jumped out the window for real this time, but he didn’t want to look too pathetic in front of Ranpo.
”Chuuya-san sent me to get you”, Akutagawa told him.
Ranpo looked at him as to ask him if that was true. To which he almost responded with “How the hell should I know why Nakahara wants me”, but he swallowed his tongue.
”I’m not joining your club, sorry”, Poe bowed a little.
”You should”, Ranpo wasn’t looking at him, “The fancy hat guys club is for unrequited love, right? It could help you get over your crush on me”
It was Ranpo’s way of turning him down nicely. The suddenness of the statement made it feel like his heart stopped beating. His surroundings started to blur a little, but he refused to let Ranpo feel bad over how affected he was over the statement.
“I guess I will then. Sorry for all the trouble I caused you”, He stood up from his desk, feeling numb and followed Akutagawa up the three flights of stairs.
When they got to room three hundred and nine, the dull pain intensified. This was it, this proved that Ranpo didn’t feel the same way about him. He wondered why it hurt so much if he already knew that.
They walked into the room to find Nakahara staring out the window. In this moment, he could see why so many people liked him. He truly was beautiful.
Chuuya took one look at him and said, “Welcome to the broken heart club”
“Thanks for having me, now what’s your story Nakahara?” Poe let his curiosity get the better of him.
”Chuuya”, He corrected, “And what makes you think I have a story?”
”Don’t we all?”, Chuuya looked confused at the statement, “A story”, He clarified.
”I do have one, but it’s sure as hell isn’t a happy one”, Chuuya’s smirk gained Poe’s utmost attention.
“There are no stories that are happy or end well. If you happen to find one that’s all it is, a story”
Chuuya looked taken aback by his grim out look on life, he let out a laugh, “I knew I would like you!”
”You would be a first”, Poe told him.
Beside him Akutagawa snorted. That was probably the closest thing he had to a laugh. The thought of what made Akutagawa join this club quickly crossed his mind. As quickly as it appeared it disappeared, he didn’t want to know who hurt Akutagawa so bad to the point he had to join this club.
He waited for Chuuya to share anything about why he joined the club but it never happened. He ended up reading a book until the club was over. Whatever happened to Chuuya and Akutagawa were their business. When they were ready to share, Poe had a feeling he would be ready to share his own story. And to use Chuuya’s words it’s sure as hell not a happy one.
__
He filled out his club form and dropped it off in the student council room the following day. He knocked politely before walking in. Inside was messier than he could imagine. The Vice President: Kunikida was half strangling Dazai while yelling at him about something. Next to them, the newest member: Atsushi tried to help them. Once he realized his efforts were in vain he got back to his work.
”Um, excuse me”, Poe called out quietly, “I’m here to drop off a club form”
The whole room started at him. They looked surprised that he even showed up. Ranpo must’ve told them what happened yesterday. Maybe his crush was that obvious? His throat suddenly felt dry as he made his way to Dazai’s desk.
”Uh here”, He placed it down.
Dazai skimmed it over, “Wow! Someone actually joined chibi’s club. Now we can’t shut it down, what a shame”
”Yeah, I’m gonna go now”, He pointed at the door and slowly backed up.
“Tell Akutagawa-kun I said hi when you get there”, Dazai’s playful tone sounded cold to his ears.
He didn’t respond and went to the club room as quickly as he could. By Dazai’s implications, he knew Akutagawa was in the club and he knew why. Dazai didn’t seem to like the duel haired boy that much, and Poe didn’t plan on sticking around that long to find out why.
As he reached the room, he lowered his head so his hair covered his eyes more. He pushed open the door as gently as he could. Inside, he found Chuuya on top of the table with a bottle of wine in one hand and a empty wine glass in the other.
Akutagawa was sitting on the ground recording it all on his flip phone. Poe closed the door and joined Akutagawa on the ground.
”What is Chuuya doing?”, Poe whispered.
”After he drinks a glass of wine he gets white girl wasted”, Akutagawa informed.
”Stupid mackerel, having all these girls after him”, Chuuya slurred, “Why’d he leave me? What did I do? Was I not good enough for him?”
”Uh”, Poe said smartly.
Akutagawa got up from his position on the floor. He tried to coax Chuuya to get off the table. Chuuya only kept wailing about how much he missed mackerel. Poe assumed this mackerel person was Dazai since he isn’t blind and everyone and their mother knew him and Dazai dated for a little bit. No one knew why they broke it off, and Poe guessed it was Dazai who broke it off if Chuuya’s in the broken heart club. The other day, when he asked for Chuuya’s story he was really asking why him and Dazai broke up. But, that’s a whole other thing to unpack.
”Chuuya-san, if you don’t get off this table I’m staging an intervention”, Akutagawa snapped, bringing Poe out of his thoughts.
He’s never seen anyone move so quick. It was like Chuuya teleported off the table. Chuuya then leaned onto Akutagawa and they started to walk out.
Akutagawa struggled to walk, he could barely get to the door without his legs shaking. Poe walked up to Chuuya’s free side and supported it.
”I didn’t need your help”, The duel haired boy snapped.
Poe didn’t say anything in fear of his life, but they kept walking. Chuuya was heavier than he looks, probably all of his muscle. As they approached the second stair case they were met with a blank faced Dazai.
”Who did the slug manage to get drunk in school? Stupid chibibko, this is why everyone thinks your an alcoholic”, His tone was soft, almost loving.
”I’ll take him from here”, Dazai announced picking up Chuuya bridal style.
As he and Akutagawa watched them walk away he was hit with a feeling of how loving that scene was.
”I don’t think Chuuya’s love is unrequited”, Poe didn’t face Akutagawa.
”It never was”, He said cryptically and then followed in pursuit.
Poe went down the stairs slowly not to wind himself, he almost fell down the stairs when a certain thought hit him: this was only the first day of the literary club. Maybe he should just got to sleep forever.