Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Miles hated fighting with Phoenix. It’s not that he didn’t enjoy arguing with the man, hell, whenever he had to go overseas for whatever cases, the thing he missed most — save perhaps cuddles — was their banter. But he hated all-out, actual fights. Thankfully, they didn’t have many of those, Phoenix was far too easygoing for most of Miles’ quirks to be an issue for him. When it came to Trucy, however, the man was fierce. 

It wasn’t that he didn't like the girl. He did! Of course, he did. She was too sweet for anyone to dislike her. He just — he wasn’t ready to be a father but Phoenix was one and if he wanted Phoenix in his life, it was now a package deal. He loved Trucy, but he hated not having the option anymore. He also knew that if Phoenix had to choose between Miles and Trucy, it wasn’t even a competition anymore. For the first time in his life, he had been someone’s number 1 priority and now that he wasn’t, it hurt a little. God, even in his head he sounded like a selfish bastard.

Still, he did more than what was expected of him as her dad’s boyfriend. He bought her stuff and took her to school if she missed the bus and would stand in as her assistant when she wanted to show Phoenix a new trick. He loved her as much as he allowed himself, but he tried not to influence her any. She needed a better role model than him. He started staying at the office a little longer, often coming home — and God, he shared a home with Phoenix Wright — after Trucy was already asleep. Sometimes, he would make breakfast and leave as early as possible. 

At first, Phoenix said nothing. He understood that Miles could get lost in his work and things were often hectic down at the prosecutor’s office. When Miles would get home and into bed, he would welcome him into his sleep-warm arms and wrap himself around Miles like a goddamn koala. It would take a thousand years before Miles would get used to that, ten thousand before it could even begin to annoy him. 

Two months of this routine and Phoenix started to pull away a little. Not consciously, Miles was sure, but he would pull the covers a little tighter to himself, his smile dulled a tiny bit, and his kisses came less frequently.

Three months and Miles found himself coming home to Phoenix who was well dressed and sitting on the bed with his “let’s have a talk” face. This is where they are now.

“Gumshoe called today, Miles,” he said.

“Oh?” asked Miles, taking off his jacket and hanging it on the clothes hanger. “What did he say?”

“He asked me why you were asking for more work.”

Well, fuck. Guess whose salary was getting cut right down the middle.

“Miles.” This was softer, kinder. Phoenix wasn’t here to fight. He just wanted to understand. “Please, katze, I’m worried about you. What’s going on?”

“It’s just work, Phoenix,” he shrugged.

“It’s not. You're… you’re so distant, and I think I was reacting to it unknowingly and I didn’t notice it until Trucy pointed it out to me. I don’t want that, Miles. I never want to make you feel like I’m not there for you 100%. Just, please. Please, tell me what is wrong. Did I do something?”

Miles knew he should just apologize — for what he knew not, but this was where he should apologize, he didn’t want to make Phoenix sad. He just — he couldn’t tell Phoenix that he didn’t want Trucy in his life. He hadn’t signed up for that. He wasn’t a good role model. 

“I don’t want to be a dad,” was what came out of his mouth. FUCK.

Phoenix blinked twice, trying to reconcile the two things. “What?”

“I don’t want to be a father.”

Phoenix’s mouth was still open, still trying to understand. He was blinking rapidly. “What!?”

“Phoenix, I never wanted any part of that.”

“WHAT?!”

“I just —”

“You’re telling me this now, Edgeworth? It’s been five months now that we’ve been going out together and you choose now to be the time that you tell me you’ve been pulling away from me because you don’t want my daughter?”

“It’s not about Trucy. I love her, I do.”

“Then what’s the issue?”

“I never wanted to be a father, Phoenix.” He took Phoenix’s hand. “I don’t want that kind of responsibility. When you adopted her two years ago, you never consulted me. I had no idea about all this until I came back from Germany and suddenly, there she was. Sleeping on your couch with your surname added to hers. I never had a say in any of this.”

“Why now? Why five months in? When she was just starting to call you Uncle Miles? When I was — Why now?”

“I love you, Phoenix,” Miles confessed. “I thought I could do this. I thought if I had to take her with you, I could manage it.”

“Oh, don’t do me any favours by accepting my child!” Phoenix seethed.

“That’s not how I mean it,” Miles replied. “You know me better than that.”

Phoenix sat heavily on the bed, as if someone had ripped into his Achilles’. Less of an action and more of an involuntary fall. He took long breaths. He took a minute but when he looked back at Miles, all the love and understanding was gone. “Where do we go from here?”

“I — I don’t know.”

Phoenix nodded, getting up and walking out.

Miles panicked. “Where are you going?”

Phoenix looked at him blankly. “I’m sleeping in Trucy’s room tonight. We’ll be out of your hair tomorrow.”

“No, Phoenix!”

“I can’t leave her, Miles. She’s already lost a dad. She’ll lose one more tomorrow. I can’t make her give me up as well.”

“I don’t want you to go!”

“I can’t stay. Not — not after this.”

“I’ll be better!” Miles cried. “Please. I’ve never shrunken from duty. I’ll buy her whatever she wants, I’ll sign her school reports, I’ll go to her PTAs. Anything. Just stay.”

“But you don’t want her . I can’t keep her with a man who doesn’t want her.”

Tears laced Miles’ eyes. “I love you.”

Phoenix walked back to him, his eyes soft once more. Melancholy sat in his unmatched irises. He kissed Miles and Miles kissed him back as if this was the last breath he would get before he drowned. “I love you too, Miles.”

“No, please. I can’t help it. I can’t make myself want a child.” Miles tried. “You can’t punish me for something I can’t control. I promise to do everything like a father, don’t I? Isn’t that good enough?” Aren’t I good enough? Phoenix? Please, my Phoenix. My firebird! Aren’t I? Would you leave me too, like everyone before you?

“I am her father, Miles,” he said. “I cannot choose anyone over her. I don’t have the right. She means everything to me. I cannot do her that disservice.”

Miles nodded. Voice trembling like the last winter leaf clinging on to a bough with all its might he asked, “Stay one last night, won’t you? Would you give me that, Firebird ? One last night?”

Phoenix sighed and nodded, getting back in bed. Miles stripped bare and got in too, hugging Phoenix to himself. Phoenix buried his hands in Miles’ hair and Miles began to weep. Phoenix wept with him. I’ll never feel any of this ever again. Am I this unlovable? Even the man who changed the course of his life for me can't love me, so who else can?

The Sun rose up bright and early and Phoenix woke up alone in Edgeworth's bed. He was already on a flight to Germany.

Chapter Text

FIVE YEARS LATER

Phoenix was caught up in another case. This time though, he was the suspect. There were many who would defend him but more importantly, Kristoph Gavin had an apprentice who may well be connected to Trucy. He wasn’t quite sure yet about how, but there was something there. So he called Kristoph, despite his suspicions, and let Apollo Justice take it from there. 

When all was said and done, Phoenix was declared Not Guilty and Kristoph was imprisoned. Still, something about Kristoph was off . There was something else about him, something more, but Phoenix didn’t know what. He supposed it no longer mattered. On the bright side, Trucy and Apollo had hit it off great. The little magician was trailing the fresh-faced lawyer like it was her purpose in life. Apollo was a good boy, Phoenix didn’t really have to worry about anything. Plus teasing him was too easy, even if his left hook had given him a nosebleed.

A week after Phoenix was sent to the hospital due to his car accident, a man with spiky hair came to see him. 

“So, you’re the legendary Phoenix Wright! I’ve wanted to meet you for five years.”

Phoenix didn’t look up from his daily crossword. 6 Across could be Mercy but it could just as well be Sauce . “Well, you’ve met me now, Agent Lang.”

“How do you know me?”

“You’ve been dating Miles Edgeworth for five years, how could I not know?”

Lang blinked and took a step back. “Who told you that?”

Kristoph. “I have my sources,” he replied, still squinting at 6 Across. “Okay, I give up. Come help me, is this Mercy or Sauce?”

Lang paused awkwardly. Phoenix finally looked up.

“Oh, if you think I’m going to care about your sexuality, let me tell you I’m Pansexual. Edgeworth is — was — a close friend.”

“Was?”

“We had a… falling out of sorts,” Phoenix replied. “One day I woke up and he was on another continent. Been five years since I last saw him. But, you know, congratulations and all that. Is there to be a happy announcement in the near future?”  

“I think you have it all wrong, Mr. Wright.”

“Nick, please. Mr. Wright was my old attorney's name.”

Suddenly a chirpy voice filled the room. “OH MY GOD, ARE YOU ‘ THAT MAN’ ? You are, aren’t you?”

A girl, a few years older than Trucy, stood in the doorway, wearing a detective’s uniform. For the first time in a while, for a split second, an expression crossed Phoenix’s face as his heart ached. This was Kay Faraday, the girl Miles had deemed good enough to replace Trucy. He reined it in. It isn’t her fault. She is not to blame. She is just another child. She is someone else’s Trucy. I must be kind to her. 

“You must be the noble thief Yatagarasu!” he greeted.

“Wow, you’re good.”

“You do wear the broach.”

“No, not that,” she laughed. She was sweet. “For a second there, it looked like you were going to cry, and then you turn around and you’re all cheerful again. I mean, I was nervous just coming here, but Ema told me you wouldn’t hate me, so I came.”

“Why would I hate you?”

Kay looked away. “Because of everything that went down between  Mr. Edgeworth and you.” 

You call him Mr. Edgeworth?! “How much do you know?”

“He was crying when he heard you were in the hospital. Miss Fey told him.”

I am going to kill Maya. “Oh?”

“Yeah. You know he loves you, right?”

Phoenix looked away. 

“Miss Faraday, that is an extremely inappropriate thing to say to someone you’ve just met,” said Agent Lang and ‘Yeah!’ thought Phoenix. ‘Yeah, it is. ’

He looked at Agent Lang, Miles’ boyfriend of five years. That couldn’t have been an easy thing to hear. “I’m sorry,” said Phoenix. “I don’t know why she would say such a thing. We haven’t even met for five years. There has been no communication between us. Miles is not a cheating man.”

“No, wait, no! Hold on!” Kay started laughing uncontrollably. “I’m sorry — ahaha — hold on. You think- shit, hold on, hold on, ahahaha. This is too much. Like Ema told me you were idiots,” What! Rude! “But not this much? Oh my God, oh no, you’re — ahahaha — you’re serious, aren’t you? Mr. Edgeworth won’t even call you by your name, I had to suffer through 5 years of ‘a certain defence attorney’ and ‘that man’ and you’re actually telling me you think he’s with someone else? And that someone else is Agent freaking Lang? This is my favourite idiot plot!” She fell to the ground in a fit of wheezing coughs. “I’m going to die. Mr. Edgeworth’s love life is going to end me! It was requited this whole time! Fucking idiots. Ahahaha!”

Just in time, Ema walked in with Apollo, Trucy trailing after him. 

“Kay?!” Ema exclaimed. “You actually came?”

“Yeah,” said Kay, bounding up to Ema. "Listen to this shit, love!" Love?!? "He thinks—" snorts escaped Kay, "He— Ema, It's— They're— ahaha — they're both so stupid, I'm going to  DIEEE Ema, help!!"

"Daddy, what's happening?" asked Trucy.

"I truly do not know."

Kay gasped, laughter forgotten. Phoenix frowned. Maybe she had ADHD too. "Trucy Wright! Oh my God, I'm a huge fan!"

"Um, thanks?"

Ema rolled her eyes and laid a hand on both the girls. "Trucy, this is Kay, my girlfriend. Kay, Trucy. My not-sister."

"Oooooh!" Trucy cooed. "Wait, oh my God, Pearly is going to die. She has been shipping you and Klavier for like days."

"Why???" cried Ema. "I'd rather die a virgin than have him touch me."

"I know," Trucy said. "Not that it stopped Polly from being jealous."

Apollo burst into a fit of coughing, spitting out the water he had just put in his mouth. A laugh bubbled out of Phoenix as well. Everyone turned to look at him.

"You do have a magician's timing, Trucy" praised Phoenix. At the same time, Apollo yelled, "I'm not jealous. I don't even like Ema like that!" 

"Nice try, Polly, but none of us think you're straight."

"What!! Trucy, you can't out me like that."

Trucy pursed her lips. "Who, among the people gathered here, thought Apollo was straight before I said the jealous thing.” Not one person raised their hand.

“Oh fuck all of you! And raise your hand, you Mr. Wright wannabe! You just met me.”

“Sure but I do happen to be an Interpol agent!”

"You can't tell if people are gay just by looking!"

"Not most gay people, no."

"Ugh! I'm leaving!" Apollo declared.

"Where will you go, Mr. Tomatoface?" teased Trucy. "To your boyfriend ?"

"Klavier is not my boyfriend!" he yelled, face as red as his suit. Tomatoface was slinking into raspberry territory.

"I never once mentioned Klav." Klav??? Truce, that's the man who got me disbarred. The brother of the man who killed your father.

Apollo gasped. "It was implied!"

Trucy looked at Phoenix and smiled naughtily. Phoenix nodded imperceptibly. She was asking permission to drag Apollo, Ema and Kay out of this so Phoenix could deal with all this. Having gained it, she took Ema by one arm and Apollo by another and started dragging them with the bait of a new trick she had learned. "We have to get Klav too. He likes my tricks."

Phoenix made a mental note to talk to Franziska about this Klavier. Hopefully it was more about this being Trucy's age to fall for Rockstars — not that it explained Apollo's crush — than any effort on the boy's part. He was a rockstar, after all, who knew what those people got up to. As long as Apollo didn't get dragged into any groupies, Phoenix wouldn't step in.

With the kids out of the way, he turned to Agent Lang. "So, am I in trouble with the Interpol somehow?" He wasn't. Maya had married Franziska. One of them would have called. 

"No, of course not. And Mr. Prosecutor and I are not romantically involved. We never were. Whoever gave you that information was either mistaken or intentionally lying to you."

Phoenix looked away, processing this new information. "Why would they lie?"

"To hurt you. Not to be rude, since we've just met but it's clear you love him — for whatever reason." 

"Yeah well," Phoenix shrugged, heart still heavy. One would think 5 years would make it better, but no. Time just made it worse. "It's one-sided so none of that matters."

"I don't know a lot about Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. I don't know what he does most days, I don't know why he works so much, I don't know why he likes kids' shows. I don't know why he carries a travel pack of custom red and blue chess pieces and tries to make the red king kiss the blue king when he thinks no one is looking," Lang smiled. "Despite my ignorance, one thing is abundantly clear. Mr. Wright, he loves you."

"Have you ever loved someone?"

"I have."

"Have you told them, five months into the relationship, when they planned to propose to you, that you didn't want to be a father and then took off for a different continent the next day?"

"I mean, that's a very specific—"

"My point, Agent, is that you don't do something like that to someone you love. You don't ruin them, you don't make yourself seem like the only person they can trust and then crush them with no mercy." Phoenix paused. "I believe you came here to fulfil your duty as his friend. I can admire that. Now, for my sake, tell him nothing of this conversation. If he doesn't want all of me, he can't have any of me."

Lang looked away. "Of course."

"Thank you."

Chapter Text

Miles Edgeworth had had better days. First, the coffee turned out to be empty — Kay, please put down things you use in the shopping list; Seb, please know we have a shopping list — then Miss Ema Skye leaked sensitive information about the case to some young wet-behind-the-ears, bi-horned lawyer and his non-lawyer minor assistant just to spite Klavier Gavin (and what kind of a 24-year-old attorney just let a young girl be his legal assistant?) and then Maya called to tell him that Phoenix got into an accident with a car and was in critical condition. 

It had been five years since he left Wright, five years since he started waking up to an empty bed and an emptier heart. It had been four years since he returned to LA but never met up with Wright. He still wanted to change the system, he still wanted to rewrite history and ensure that Wright could defend again. A world where Phoenix Wright could not defend was no world at all.

 His journey to self-discovery had taken him to many lands but in the end, he returned to the city that Phoenix Wright lived in. Anywhere else was too far, too hopeless, too desolate, too empty. He didn’t keep tabs on Phoenix, but if the occasional gossip came down the grapevine, he wouldn’t say no to it. He watched as people revelled in his disbarment, as they writhed in ecstasy each time Phonix stepped further into desolation. He watched as Kristoph Gavin made friends with him. He watched as, sometimes, when Miles sat in the pews of the court, Phoenix would serve as Gavin’s unofficial council guiding the court to justice. And then he would watch the media uproar that would last a week. He bought tickets to Trucy’s shows and watched the girl who was once his daughter grow up from the front seats. She got better with age — Miles got worse. 

Miles went to the hospital either way. It wasn’t hard to find out the room number, so he watched from the door as Trucy hugged her father as Phoenix, beautiful, gorgeous, wonderful Phoenix, laughed as he hugged her. A man — or is he a boy? Did Phoenix adopt another kid? No, no, he was just short — who was standing in the corner uncomfortably caught his eye. 

“Prosecutor Edgeworth!” he exclaimed.

Before anyone could do or say anything else, Miles booked it out of there. Creeping from the corner was one thing; he couldn’t face Phoenix or Trucy. He couldn't subject them to him, nor could he stand the look of hate in their eyes. 

So he did what he did 5 years ago. The only thing, he thinks, he knows how to do. He ran.

In the end, he hadn’t done much to help Phoenix. Phoenix proved to the world that he had never forged anything. In the process, he had revealed Kristoph Gavin and Kristoph had been arrested. However, Miles realised a whole new thing. 

The only friend that Phoenix had in the last half-decade was a ploy on Phonix’s end. Phoenix was truly alone, save Trucy and Maya and, thank heavens, Franziska. Once Gumshoe had been promoted to Captain and married Ms Byrd he barely had the time to do anything. Larry had moved to greener pastures when he was employed as an actor in Hollywood. He had managed to marry Ms Acicia “Ac” Trish. They had moved to Switzerland and they were happy with their two children: Lhong and Keek. That was a whole other topic. 

The thing was, most judges were not too keen to let someone who had been the point of such contention, back into the field. The Dark Age of the Law, once set in by this man and another junior prosecutor-samurai who was found guilty of his mentor’s murder, had shaken public faith in the system to the core. The fact that the system was also corrupt to the core, claiming thousands of innocent lives each year, stood to be of little relevance to the public who only cared that someone was punished for a crime. 

With just Phoenix being found guilty, the public could have been convinced that it was the evil, greedy, criminal-defending attorneys that were the rot in the system, but when a publicly appointed prodigy was found to be a murderer… there was no hiding it from the public. The people were furious. If prosecutors could murder, then what accountability did they really have? 

With this, the young anglophile — without evidence that proved his guilt beyond reasonable doubt — was given a harsher sentence than most people his age. The boy would spend his life wasting away in a world where there was no Phoenix Wright to stop it from happening. The prosecutor’s office wouldn’t even let Miles see the case, let alone touch it. Everyone was on edge. It wasn’t his territory anymore. 

Another thing that wasn’t his territory was Phoenix’s personal life. Miles had to see from afar as his life got exponentially worse over time. From days at the Borscht Bowl playing a piano he never progressed past Happy Birthday, to losing weight until he was skin on bones, firebird passed his days burning away into nothingness. And there was nothing — not one thing — that Miles could do about it.

When Kay became a regular in his life, appearing in his office and his home with increasing frequency, he thought nothing of it. She needed a place to be in, he needed someone in his place. He helped her when she asked for it because he had nothing better to do. It started with cases and progressed to homework. Miles helped her with calculus and history, and she was a white noise machine with her constant chatter. When Sebastian joined them, it was even better. The halls in his home no longer echoed with emptiness. All was well in this equation.

Until it wasn't. 

3 years into this ritual, Sebastian and Kay came to him, guilt and embarrassment clear on their faces. For the first time in his life, Sebastian stood in front of Kay and she shrunk herself to hide behind him. As if, if she was small enough, she would at least be ignored.

No such luck.

“Master DeBest, Miss Faraday.” Miles glanced at his watch. 18:24. “Good evening. What may I help you with?”

Kay looked at him, then looked at the A4 size sheet in her hand. Then looked away again. She thought about it for a solid minute then looked away again.

“Out with it, Miss Faraday." There was no malice in Miles' voice. “There is nothing to be worried about."

Sebastian gently pulled the paper from her hand, added his own sheet of paper to it and wordlessly presented it to Mile.

Mile had enrolled Kay in the same school as Sebastian. It was expensive, to be sure, but he had money enough and more. There was nothing he couldn't give them and there was nothing they didn't deserve. Moreover, while Sebastian more or less had access to the rich coffers of DeBest, Kay had no such luck. The meager sum her father had left her was enough to sustain her hand-to-mouth but there was no reason she should have to live within those means. Furthermore, in her quest to find justice, she had severely ignored schoolwork. There was no sense in implying that Kay didn't deserve an education on par with Sebastian. 

Miles examined the papers as Kay wrung her hands nervously. It was a parental consent form and fee submission request for a school trip to Paris. The cost wasn't nearly significant enough to cause him to flinch, but the implication was.

Seeing him hesitate, Kay shrunk within herself even more. “It's okay, Mister Edgeworth. I don't have to go. I'll tell the school I can't make it."

Seb was having none of it. "I can fund it. We just need your signature."

Edgeworth looked away before taking a deep breath. He was too far in to back out — and there was no real reason he should.

“Are there chaperones?" He asked.

“Huh?"

“Who is taking care of you? Are there mentors? Who will be with you? Is it safe? What are the accommodations? Is there someone I have to talk to about all this?” he asked instead.

“You mean, we can go?” Seb asked with bated breath. 

“Not if it is unsafe,” he replied. “But if it is all good, I think this can prove to be a very essential adventure indeed. New cultures, new people, new perspectives will only serve to hone your character.”

Kay and Seb screamed before hugging each other. “THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!!!!” they screamed. Edgeworth smiled as they fell over each other giving him all the details. It was safe enough.

When he signed the papers, his pen flew unhesitatingly through it.

At night, he passed what had become ‘their’ bedroom. The two children, tucked in bed, fast asleep on two queens. An imperfect family for an imperfect man.

He walked to the study and stared at the new moon. He thought of the daughter he lost. He thought of her, going to an average school with no trips to Paris to speak of. He thought of her getting a permission slip for a trip somewhere close by and still crumbling the paper up before ever even asking her father. 

He thought of her worrying about money, about stability, about trips, about lunch… but never about her father.

Could Seb and Kay say the same? Would he ever even be Uncle Miles again, let alone Papa? He had been, essentially, a father to 2 children for these past few years. He wasn't… he wasn't Manfred Von Karma to them. Cruelty wasn't passed on to him. He broke the cycle — he could have at any point. 

What great cost did he pay for fear!
What more toll could his trauma take? How much more would he let it? When could he even stop?

He looked away. The moon held no answers. But there was someone who did, and it wasn't his firebird.

Opening a phone directory nearby — sue him, he didn't trust Google's paid ads — he flipped through until he found the phone number of Dr. Mindre Paer, the country’s leading family trauma therapist. He spared a final glance at the new moon as the phone rang. A Tuesday appointment would not be amiss. 

Chapter Text

Miles Edgeworth stood in Phoenix’s doorway. He was softly smiling as if everything that had happened was no big deal.

Phoenix softly smiled back.

“Hi, sweetheart,” said Phoenix.

“Firebird,” Miles smiled back. “Rough day?"

Phoenix shrugged. "You know how it is."

Miles shook his head.

"Not really, not like this." He walked to the bed and sat down. "Would you like a hug?"

Phoenix all but ran into him. Edgeworth squeezed him tight in his arms.

For the first time in a while, Phoenix smiled.

"There, there, firebird!" Miles whispered. "It's okay. It's all going to be okay. I'm here now."

The smile disappeared from Phoenix's face but he squeezed him tighter.

"No," he whispered. "No, you're not." 

Miles didn't argue. They went to sleep like that.

The next morning Trucy found Phoenix in his bed. Squeezing a pillow. Fast sleep.

Chapter Text

When Miles went to the office of Wright and C - Wright Talent Ag - Wright Anything Agency, he hesitated before ringing the doorbell. He had to check, just once. He would look, make sure Phoenix was alive and then leave. He would never see him again. Surely Phoenix wouldn't mind this much, just so that he didn't lose any more sleep. 

The one that opened the door was not Phoenix but worse. Trucy.

She looked at him and the smile disappeared from her face as if she had never smiled in her life. He could feel her forgetting any reason to be happy.

She didn't say anything but glared at him.

"Hello, Trucy."

"It's Miss Wright, Mr Edgeworth," she curtly replied. He wasn't expecting her to call him papa, but this still hurt.

"Of course," he nodded, grabbing his elbow. 

"So, did you need something?" she asked. "The Wright Anything Agency isn't free enough for social visits."

"Is your father there?"

Trucy looked at him for a second. Then she blinked, stepped back and shut the door on his face.

"Who was it, Truce?" He heard Phoenix call from inside. His telltale heart raced, just from his voice.

"Nobody, Daddy!" she cheerfully replied. His heart sank. There was more meaning to what she said. He was no one to her anymore and she no longer wanted him to be anyone to Phoenix either. 

He stood there a while, just breathing. When he turned to leave, he left a little bit of his heart back there.

Three weeks passed with nightmares galore. He would wake up, drenched in sweat. But this time it wasn't his dead father but Phoenix. Phoenix was shot, strangled, hit by various vehicles, drowned - and sometimes he hanged himself. There was nothing Miles could do but look. 

Sometimes Trucy would be there, blood on her hands, crying crimson tears.

Every time, Miles would approach her and every time, she would scramble out of reach. There, she would look at him; a vision of anger and rage. "You're nobody, Mr Edgeworth."

Those nights, he would wake up weeping. 

Still, he needed to see Phoenix. It took a few months to gather courage. Finally, there was evidence to build a case. That may well end the Dark Age of Law. A boy, Simon Blackquill, was imprisoned for the murder of his mentor. He needed Phoenix. It was a good excuse - well good enough anyway. Phoenix wouldn’t say no to that. 

This time, it was Apollo Justice who opened the door. He frowned at Miles. 

“Prosecutor Edgeworth?” he asked.

“Is Mr Wright in?” he asked.

A sniffle was heard inside and his heart clenched. Was Phoenix crying?

Mr Justice looked impatient at that. “No, he’s out with Trucy - his daughter, I mean. If you don’t mind, I’m a bit -”

Another uncontrollable sniffle and Miles couldn’t hold back. Uncaring for the way the boy's body was blocking the entrance, he pushed past him into the room.

“Phoe-”

There sat Klavier Gavin, looking incredibly small, eyes wide as saucers, tears still streaking down his face. Miles stood there uncomprehendingly. 

“Ah, Herr Edgeworth,” Mr Gavin tried to smile through it, but his tears didn’t seem to agree with him, streaking down relentlessly. “Wie geht es Ihnen?”

Mr Justice wasn’t half as subtle. “Do you need something,” he sharply asked, “and could you not be rude about it?”

“Oh. I -” Words failed him. “I’m sorry, I thought -”

“If you’re quite done barging unwanted into people’s personal places for no good reason,” Mr Justice continued, clearly irritated, “then I would very much like you to leave.” He walked to Klavier’s side and took his hand. Klavier blushed, despite himself. “And I would appreciate it if you kept this to yourself, seeing as it was none of your business in the first place.”

“Of course,” he said. “Apologies, I just had a case for Mr. Wright.”

Apollo looked up sharply, clearly irritated by his continued presence. “It’s unwise to lie to a man who detects truth for a living. Either way, you rushed in when you heard Klav sob- when you heard the distress in Prosecutor Gavin’s voice. I clearly disallowed you from doing so. If you’re looking for things to humiliate him, trust me, you will be quite unsuccessful. Now please, leave the file here, I’ll pass it to Mr Wright.”

Miles nodded weakly and left the file there just in time for Trucy to walk in. The minute Trucy walked in, the smile was replaced by a half-grimace. Then she noticed Mr Gavin and rushed to him, pulling him down for a hug. “Guten Tag, Klavier!”

“Hallo, Fräulein, wie gehts?” (How is it going?)

“Wunderbar, danke! Und dir?” (Wonderful, thank you! And you?)

Dir??? (Informal, meant for close friends) Not 'Ihnen'? (Formal) Since when were Trucy and Gavin on a Du basis and not a Sie basis??

“Mir geht es gut, danke.” (It’s going well for me too, thank you!)

“Oh, I need to show you something. Stay here.”

“Okay.”

She dashed to her room, shuffled a few papers and ran back out, handing them to Klavier. “Thank you for helping out! I got an A+ in German!”

“Ah! Well done, meine Sonnenschein! Herzlichsten Glückwünsche.” (Well done, my sunshine. Heartiest congratulations.)

“Danke! But I couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Du bist sehr süß. I’m happy to help.” (You are very sweet)

She giggled. “I know you are. You get to spend time with Polly when you come over.”

“And “Herr Nick” too,” Apollo laughed. Klavier blushed deeper. 

“Herr Forehead, bitte!” 

“I’m just saying .”

Miles’s heart sank. Not only had Phoenix moved on, but he had also moved on with someone younger, prettier and better. Miles couldn’t compete with Klavier Gavin. Only Phoenix could forgive the years of pain he went through because of this man - well, his brother. Even jealous, Miles couldn’t blame Klavier. But if he had moved on, there was nothing left for Miles to try and build. 

“I - I shall be taking your leave, then,” he mumbled before turning and walking straight into Phoenix's chest.

Phoenix caught him as he stumbled and Miles stared at him, brokenhearted and open-mouthed. He was beautiful. God, he was so fucking beautiful. Miles could die in these arms here and now and be happy. 

"Miles?" Phoenix asked in a whisper. He still hadn't let go.

"Phoenix," he breathed back.

Phoenix smiled adoringly and lifted a hand to Miles' neck, fingers splayed on the soft cravat there, thumb tracing his jawline. "Sweetheart." Miles's heart raced within his chest. Kill him now,  please. Whatever this was, let it be his last memory. "You look gorgeous."

"What the fuck?" Apollo yelled, breaking whatever spell Phoenix was under. Phoenix turned his gaze upon the boy only then noticing Prosecutor Gavin in the corner. Phoenix frowned, then gasped as some realisation sank into him. He let Miles go as if he were burned.

"Edgeworth, what are you doing here?" asked Phoenix.

"T -There's a - um. A case I wish to discuss. With. With you."

"What do you mean? Legal case? I’m disgraced and disbarred, Edgeworth."

Prosecutor Gavin let out a small sob then. Phoenix turned to the sound, then, everything forgotten rushed to him. He took Gavin in his arms and softly cradled his face against his neck. "I'm so sorry, honey. I didn't mean it like that." Gavin wrapped his arms around the other's waist, murmuring little apologies into Phoenix. Phoenix ran his fingers through the others' hair - now chopped short. "Hey, hey. It's alright. Es ist gut. Du bist gut. Es ist okay. Hmm. It's alright, Klav. You're not at fault. No one blames you, least of all me. Du hattest keine Idee. Shhh. You're good." (It is good, You are good. It is okay. You had no idea.)

“How could you say that?” Prosecutor Gavin asked.

“Shh, meine Schatz, du bist nicht schuldig. Not guilty, sweetheart. Not guilty,” Phoenix whispered into his hair. (Shh, my precious, you are not guilty.)

“Danke, Herr Nick,” Prosecutor Gavin sobbed. “Danke, Es tut mir leid, es tut mir sehr sehr leid, danke.” (Thank you, Mr. Nick. Thank you, I am sorry, (Literal translation: It hurts me, It hurts me very very much) I am so, so sorry.)

“Ah, you’re fine, Schatzi. You’re fine.”

That was all Miles could bear seeing. The man he loved giving his love so freely to someone else - deserving as they may be - was one of the more heart-wrenching things he had ever witnessed. Miles had appeared before him after five years and Phoenix had yet to look back at him. Then again, that wasn’t surprising. Before - and how curious that his life was divided into befores and afters like some cheap scammy commercial about weight loss - before, when the sun shone every day and the biggest issue in his life was an irrational fear about being a little girl’s father figure - and wasn’t that fucking funny, he had ended up being Kay’s father figure anyway, c’est la vie - Phoenix was the same. 

When it came to love, there were none as blind as Phoenix. He had loved Miles like this. When he loved Miles, no one in the courtroom existed but Miles. When he loved Miles, no one in the world existed when Miles was stressed. When he loved Miles, he loved blindly enough to get a parrot to testify. On the inside of that bubble of his love, it was the most amazing thing he had ever felt, such all-encompassing love, faith and care. On the outskirts, it was the most terrible thing to witness. Phoenix’s hands buried in Klavier’s hair, Phoenix’s lips kissing Klavier’s forehead, Phoenix’s voice asking Klavier to calm down in the same tone and register that gently shook him awake after nightmares - did this boy have nightmares too? Did he know how good he had it? Did he have any idea - any right?

He walked away. Klavier had every right. Every right to be in Phoenix’s arms like the space was empty, not reserved for Miles. He had left a bullet wound there, someone else had come over with a bandaid, so he needed to move away. 

Chapter Text

Miles Edgeworth expected a lot of things on a dull Friday evening, closing time. New cases thanks to Dick Gumshoe, the DA’s Office writing to him to prioritise some cases, a new wild prosecutor with some weird new gimmick. 

Phoenix Wright at his doorstep with a gift box was not it.

“Wright?”

“Edgeworth,” he replied, awkward and slightly uncomfortable. God, but ‘Edgeworth’ hurt so much. He wasn’t Miles anymore. His firebird had branded away the name on his heart. Then again, if his Phoenix couldn’t rise from Edgeworth's ashes, who could? “My badge came in today. They shipped it to me.”

“Oh?” Miles said, a pretence of shock as if he hadn’t put pressure on multiple people to ensure Phoenix got his badge back as soon as he passed the BAR. “Congratulations, Defense Attorney Phoenix Wright.”

Wright nodded, a smile playing on his lips. “Edgeworth, please. I know you well enough to know you had a hand in it.”

“I would never-”

“Thank you.” He placed the little gift box on his tabletop. “I hope this, um, is good.”

Miles opened the box. A coffee mug, Steel Samurai limited edition, lay within. He had been looking for it for years. “How did you…?”

Phoenix laughed. “Remember Cody, from one of our cases back in the day? The fanatic kid who Wendy Oldbag hated? Yeah, he is the writer for the newest Steel Samauri spinoff —  Shanghdon Samauri. He found two in an old storage room on the set and sent them to me for old times’ sake. Maya took one and Trucy doesn’t really like it anymore, so, I thought of you.”

“Oh,” Miles smiled softly. A heat rose in his face, colouring his cheeks and the tips of his ears. Warmth bloomed in his chest like a lily flower on a cold mid-winter morning, entirely unexpected, just with a single ray of the sun peeking from grey clouds. “Well, I’m touched.”

Phoenix nodded. They didn’t speak for a moment. “Well, I’ll see you in court, I guess.”

No, don’t go. Please, stay. Stay a while. Stay for tea. Stay for dinner. Stay. But he no longer had the right to say any of those words. 

He forced his tongue to replace them with, “I look forward to it.” Phoenix began to walk. “And…” Phoenix stopped. Turned to look at him again, expression open. “Uh, congratulations.” Edgeworth swallowed. “I- I- Uh. I… forgot to say that the last time I saw you.”

A flicker of confusion passed Phoenix’s expression as he traded his smile for a furrow-browed head tilt. “I just got my badge today, Edgeworth. There was nothing to congratulate me for earlier.” 

“I meant,” he paused, gathering himself. “You and — and Klavier.”

Phoenix blinked and then frowned. Then he nodded confusedly. “Oh.” He pursed his lips as if he didn’t really understand. “Er, thanks?”

Miles’s heart broke at the confirmation of their relationship. Shaking his head in even more confusion, Phoenix walked out of the room. With a sigh, Miles went and picked up the mug just as Kay walked in.

“Hey, Mr Edgeworth. Did I just see Nicky walk out?”

“Nicky?”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s what I call the tragic crush of yours.”

“You call Phoenix Wright ‘Nicky’ behind his back?”

She giggled. “So you admit he’s your tragic crush.”

“Kay!” This was the ‘dad’ voice.

“Alright, alright.” She skipped around the room, picking up pieces, swirling them around and just generally letting her untreated ADHD do what it wanted. “Nicky is what I call him to his face. He doesn’t mind, he’s very ‘chill dad’ like that.” She paused for a second and then her eyes glinted as he made intense eye contact with him. That never boded well. “I call him Phoenix Edgeworth behind his back.”

Edgeworth blanched at that. “You WHAT?!”

She looked away, laughing, now picking up a book and flipping through the pages, not taking in a single word. He didn't have the heart to tell her that ‘Letters to a Young Lawyer ’ would not have any rapture-worthy illustrations in it. “Kidding. Jesus, Mr Edgeworth, why so pale? Dracula will call in a sec, asking to get his skin back.” 

“Tsk.”

“I would never call him that.”

“Good.”

“We both know it’s Miles Wright if anything.”

“Kay!”

“Joking. I’m not heteronormatising it, it’s just a funny joke. And you know me, Mr Edgeworth, amusement above everything.”

“Your amusement isn't the biggest concern…” He sighed. “Let it be.”

“Alright, but what was he here for?”

“He wanted to thank me. He got his badge back and figured I would have twisted a few arms for it to arrive that quickly — or at all.”

“Ooh, already in his good graces huh? What’d he give you?” She looked at the mug. “Oh. Oh! Aw, dude, he’s flirtin’!”

Miles blushed. “He was not. He was being considerate. That’s who he is. Considerate. Kind. Giving — Forgiving.”

“I don't — what happened between the two of you? He loves you, you love him and look at you both — just wasting away. And for what? Chase after him, Mr Edgeworth. He is your happiness. And you are his.”

“I cannot. I left him.”

“ He cannot, for sure then. You left him . How would he ever know you love him if you don’t tell him?”

“He knows,” Miles looked away, something oddly akin to regret clogging his throat. “He has always known.”

“If someone left me for 5 years, I wouldn’t think they loved me.”

“It’s more complicated than that,” he replied. “I had my reasons.”

“Which were..?”

“I didn’t want to be a father,” he confessed.

She paused.

“A rather moot point now , don’t you think?”

He fell down in his chair, weighed down by guilt, swirling regret and overbearing grief. “It’s more complicated now, Kay. There’s Trucy to think about. She hates me and Phoenix would never disappoint her by getting back together with me.”

Kay took him by the hand and sat down opposite him. “I know Nick loves Trucy, perhaps there is no one who loves someone else as much as he does her. But you must realise that she loves her father too. She loves him fiercely. She doesn't hate you, she’s vary of you. And for good reason. But if you devote yourself to them, you could be a family.”

He looked up at the ceiling, refusing to let the wet cross the waterline. The tears stuck to his eyelashes as he reigned it all in. In defeat, he muttered, “It’s too late.”

She was quieter now, softer. “It’s never too late, as long as you’re willing to get hurt.” Kay got up to stand by his side. She lay a hand on his shoulder. Even that weight was a comfort, an anchor tying him to reality instead of the murky depths of his mind. “You need to open yourself to him. Tell him and be ready to get hurt. Tell him everything. Apologise. Beg if you have to. You made a mistake, a severe one, so repent. Even God doesn’t forgive without penance, Nick is just a man.” 

“I don’t know…”

“What do you have to lose?”

He looked at her, she raised her eyebrows and smirked. “Do a best-case worst case. Best case: you get the love of your life. Worst case: You aren’t together — you’re not, anyway. You’re not even good friends.”

“I don’t want him to despise me.”

“Any more than he does for you leaving?” she asked.

Miles put his face in his hands. After a long pause, he groaned in frustration. “Well, excuse my language, but FUCK .”

“Cursing in front of a child , Edgeworth?” came Phoenix’s voice from the doorway. He was smiling. “Come on!”

Miles looked up. God, he couldn’t cry now ! “H-How long have you been there?”

“I came just in time to hear your colourful language in front of Miss Faraday here.”

“Hey, Nicky!” Kay cheerfully said, waving enthusiastically at him.

“Heyya, kiddo!” he replied, grin spreading wider. “I came back 'cause I saw you get in. Ema invites you to the dinner and nothing would bring me more pleasure than to take away this opportunity for her to flirt with you.”

“Dinner?”

“Got my badge back, kid.” He presented his badge to her. “See, all gold and shiny. We’re going out.”

“ ‘Going out’ ”, she mimicked, teasing him. “What, you took out a third mortgage?”

Edgeworth was horrified at what had just left Kay’s mouth. Phoenix burst out laughing. 

“I’ll have you know, Franziska von Karma-Fey is my sister’s wife.”

Kay laughed too. “Auntie Franzie’s throwing a party? Of course I’m there.” 

Phoenix nodded, “Limitless wine, baby!”

“Think higher than grape juice, Nicky. Champagne baths.”

“I like your style,” he said.

“Danke, Herr Nick.”

“Wilkommen, Frau Kay.” He paused, then looked at Edgeworth, smile never leaving. He used to smile brighter at me. “How about you, are you coming?”

Edgeworth frowned. “I am not on the guest list.”

“I mean…” Phoenix smiled, “it’s not a formal thing. We didn't send out emails .”

Kay snorted. “You did, actually.”

“ What ?”

“Yeah, Aunt Franzie sent us all formal emails with the date, time and venue 5 days ago. We had to RSVP.”

“5 Days??? I JUST got my badge today.”

“Fransizka has her connections,” Miles replied, smiling. “She, of all people, would definitely know.”

“Hah, Franzy. She’s something else,” Phoenix laughed. “I think she may not have invited you for my sake. Why don’t you come, I’m sure she’d like it.”

“You are sure, are you?” Miles dryly asked. “We haven’t had a conversation in 3 years.” 

Phoenix looked shocked. “Wha- why?”

“She has her loyalties and they’re towards you.”

“But… you’re her big brother.”

“Adopted.”

Phoenix looked as if he’d been slapped. “That makes no difference. Blood is not what connects anyone. What, you think I love Trucy any less because she’s not my own? Or Apollo and Clay for that matter? Or Ema or Veera or Pearly or Seb or Kay? Or that Maya is any less my sister? We’re all strays here. And what, you think Manfred Von Karma hated Fransizka any less than he did you? Neither does ‘family’ start in blood nor does it end there. It’s all on people. It’s our choice .” 

“I’m sorry, it was a joke,” Miles awkwardly said.

“It was in bad taste,” Phoenix spared no feeling. “But you have to come. You have gotta talk to her.”

“I can’t!” he replied, desperate. “She wants nothing to do with me.”

“Look, at least Maya misses you. And Polly basically worships you, he’ll be glad to have you there. Klav too.”

“Mr Gavin… will  be there?” Miles asked, hesitatingly.

Phoenix smiled softly. “It would take a man stronger than myself to keep loverboy away.”

Kay giggled as Miles’ heart broke again. 

“Does he still say all those cheesy pick-up lines?” she asked.

“Ughhh!” Phoenix threw his head back as if annoyed, but his smile betrayed his fondness. “The other day I found a post-it note — on the fridge if you can believe it — that said ‘The defence can rest at my place tonight’.”

Kay gasped “No!”

Phoenix enthusiastically nodded. “Yeah!”

“I can’t believe it,” she squealed.

“Right!” he replied in a pitch so high a 34-year-old man shouldn't be able to reach it.

“Aaaaaaa!” Kay screamed.

“I KNOW RIIIGHT!” 

“Stop,” Miles said, unable to hold it back anymore. “Just please.”

They both stopped, getting a hold of themselves. 

“Anyway,” Kay said, getting up. “I’mma go over to Vera’s place. Em and I promised to get ready there. Aunt Maya is a wizard at make-up. She’ll be there to dress us up.” She turned to them. “See you at the party, Nicky, Mr Edgeworth.”

Phoenix waved at her with a smile and got up too. “I need to get going too. Trucy will have my head if I’m late and she can’t paint my nails. I’ll see you at the party, Edgeworth. Wear something casual. And no frills. Zip, zilch, zero.”

Before he could say no, Phoenix’s phone rang. He picked it. “Heyyyy, Franzy! Yes, yes, I’m on my way home.” He waved Miles goodbye and walked out. “Tell Apollo that I have a shirt for him in the closet at WAA. … If you aren’t my messenger, Franzy, then how come people had invites 5 days ago, via mail?”

Miles stared at the door. How could he go? How could he refuse?

Chapter Text

Edgeworth ended up going to the party because Phoenix had invited him and he wanted to go there. No doubt people would hate him, but any excuse to be with Phonix was good enough, Klavier Gavin be damned. When he reached the hotel, he found the gang sitting at a huge table. Phoenix met his eye and waved him over. He trotted towards the man he loved. As he walked, he caught his sister’s eye. 

Fransizka was not pleased in the least. Being who she was, poised at every turn and a perfect Von Karma, she said nothing. “Miles Edgeworth,” she curtly greeted. There was ample warning in her tone.

He nodded back, “Fransizka.”

Maya looked up with equal parts unhinged glee and vary distrust — which, he would admit, was a hard emotion to pull off. “Edgeworth? What are you doing here?”

He took a seat next to Phoenix. Neither Apollo, Trucy nor Klavier had shown up yet. Kay and Ema were there. Kay smirked at his choice of seat. Edgeworth pointedly ignored it. “Wright invited me.”

All eyes turned to Phoenix who was busy admiring the red wine in front of him. At the silence, he looked up. “What? I know he had a hand in getting my badge back. It’s only fair.”

“Nick!” Maya warned. 

“Maya,” he replied, understanding in his voice.

The two exchanged a conversation in glances. When they were done, she rolled her eyes. “Whatever, but don’t come crying to me.”

“Come on, I’m better than that,” Phoenix protested.

“You most certainly are not,” Fransizka replied. “Miles Edgeworth, may I talk to you in private?”

Edgeworth swallowed. “Of course.”

They got up and went out the back. She looked like rage incarnate. 

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

“I mean no harm.”

“You mean NO HARM!?” she bellowed, then lowered her voice. “What is the meaning of that? You broke that man thoroughly when you shattered his family. You hurt him, his child, his friends. You have caused him more heartache than anyone else, including our father. All Father did was try to kill him, you killed his soul and his smiles, Miles Edgeworth. So, here is what you’re going to do. You shall sit for a while, politely, and then leave and never see him again.” She took a deep breath to ground herself. 

“I love him, Franziska.”

Madness danced in her eyes. “I begged you to come back for two years . He would have taken you back. He shouldn’t have, but he would. Imagine how bad his condition would have to be for me, Franziska Von Karma, to beg you to return. I have never begged anyone else, ever. You have no idea — you have no concept of an idea — of what pain is, what betrayal is, of what broken trust is. So don’t talk to me about a love so weak that it was broken by foolish insecurity.”

“Hey, is everything okay?” came Phoenix’s voice. 

Fransizka looked at him sharply, then hissed, “ Also verdammt kommt noch einmal nicht zurück in sein Leben, du Fotze*. Oder du wirst mir gegenüberstehen. ”(So don’t fucking come back again into his life now, you cunt. Or you will have to face me.) 

Tears sprang in his eyes but he blinked them away. Edgeworth nodded as Phoenix stepped into view and Fransizka schooled her face into passive boredom. “Can I not check in on my brother, Phoenix Wright? Need I have your permission?”

Phoenix lightly frowned. “Obviously not, but you haven’t talked to him in 3 years and you just sounded like you threatened him.”

She raised her brow. “Phoenix Wright, are you calling German a harsh tongue? That’s racist.”

“First of all, it’s not racist,” he replied. “It’s a stereotype for a good reason, y’all call an ambulance a KRANKENWAAAGEN. Sometimes you call Maya nice things and I want to report you for verbal abuse.”

“Just my style of talking then,” she said, unfazed. “Mystery solved.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You make a good point, but I’m not convinced.” 

“I always do and you never are.” She took Phoenix’s elbow. “I have said my piece. Now let’s go back.”

By the time they got back, the kids had arrived. Trucy threw him a look that could kill, but said nothing. Kay and Ema had moved to make space for them. Klavier was sitting with Apollo and Phoenix gave him a knowing smirk, seeing which Klavier blushed. Edgeworth settled in next to Phoenix, this time because of the seating arrangement. 

Phoenix leaned over to Klavier’s side. “Where shall the prosecution rest tonight?” Klavier turned the colour of Apollo’s suit. 

“A-at the defence’s,” he managed to reply. 

The table burst out laughing. Phoenix smiled mischievously. “I hope the defence has made plans about this development. So long as you follow safety protocol —”

“One. Nice. Dinner. Mr Wright, that’s all I ask,” Apollo groaned. Edgeworth was just glad it wasn’t he who said it.

Phoenix nodded sheepishly but dropped it. “Okay, okay. I’ll be good.”

With Franziska's unlimited wine came the advantage of a loosened-up Phoenix Wright. Small gestures turned into full-blown hands on the shoulder and, as the evening progressed, on the neck and cheek. Edgeworth had drunk enough to be a little dizzy, but clearly not as much as Phoenix who was now hugging the DJ. 

Could’ve been you! The voice in his head said. It used to be you.

Instead, he had to sit at the table, hands clutched into fists in his lap as he watched Maya and Phoenix break it down on the dance floor. Scant others had joined, Prosecutor Gavin making good use of his pop-star dance lessons or whatever it was that idols went through. Maya proceeded to twerk, very badly, as Phonix joined, just as much a worm on a stick. The flush in Edgeworth’s body was no longer just wine, whiskey and shots. 

After a while, the lights softened further, and a lot of people joined on the dance floor. Kay pulled him with her, asking for a dance on Ateez’s Arriba . They had taken a Salsa class together because it was required for her school, but she didn’t want some random teenage boy’s grubby hands on her. She had asked and he had happily agreed. Neither knew the actual steps, but what they did was pretty good. They even earned a mild round of applause when done. 

When they took a bow, a very drunk Phoenix took him by his elbow. 

“You know Salsa!!!!!????!!!” he asked, slurring every word and swaying dangerously. Edgeworth looked around, slightly panicked, as he slotted a hand across his waist to support his weight. 

Counting that as permission, Phoenix happily faceplanted into his pecs. 

“Ooooooh Miiiiiiileeeesss,” he slurred some more, but now he had his arms around his waist. Edgeworth, hearing his name out of his mouth, was already in heaven. All the extra soju he had added to his other mix of liquors was not helping. This was everything he wanted, laid out on a platter. Why shouldn’t he take it? Even as a part — the good part, the part that had begged him to stay, despite everything, to talk about the Trucy situation that night — of him warned him not to. Phoenix couldn’t consent. Not like this. Neither could he. “You’re still in shaaaaappeeee.”

“Pheonix, that’s not appropri-”

Phoenix laughed. “Remember that day in Venice, we went boating — you and me?”

How could he ever forget? It was the happiest he had ever been. “Yes, Phoenix.”

Phoenix leaned in close to him, his bottom lip caressing the shell of his ear, featherlight. “Remember that night ? I fucked you into the mattress until you came 4 times and then cried from overstimulation before cumming a 5 th time?”

Arousal zipped up his spine like a line of firecrackers, in little bursts and just as fast and explosive. His brain replayed that night in graphic detail. The condition of his pants was best left unsaid. “Y-yes.”

Like a cat, Phoenix turned, stretched and relaxed against his chest. “Do you really think after that, there can be anything between us that is remotely inappropriate ?”

“You have a… whatever. Partner? Whatever you two are,” he countered before searching the crowd. Prosecutor Gavin had cornered Apollo in his chair and they were making out passionately. Rage ripped through Edgeworth like a wild animal. “PHOENIX! Prosecutor Gavin! He’s! Phoenix, he’s making out with Mr Justice!”

Phoenix grinned. Every thought Edgeworth was having, most of them a format of wanting to rip that prosecutor into shreds, came to a screeching halt. “That son of a bitch did it! Good for him. Good for him.”

WHAT?

“You have an open relationship?”

Phoenix laughed, still too drunk to understand anything. “I don't even have a relationship, what will I open?”

What?

“What? What about Pro- What about Klavier?”

what?

“What about him?”

“Aren’t you two together?”

“Sure, we hang out sometimes. He usually comes over for dinners ever since he got his ging- jig- gineosr- ginorm- BIG ASS crush on Apollo.”

what.

“So you two are not dating?”

“Who two?”

what

Edgeworth wanted to tear his hair out. “You and Klavier!!!!”

“What about us?”

“Oh my God, firebird! ” He cried. “Are you dating Klavier?”

Phoenix laughed. “He’s gonna be my son-in-law, why would I fuck my son-in-law, when I could just fuck my husband-in-law?”

wot

“Who is-”

Phoenix shut down that line of questioning rather effectively by crushing their lips together. Whatever came next, Edgeworth was more than happy to have this now.

The car ride was a blur. There was a lot of kissing and groping and all kinds of inappropriate, indecent behaviours. The WAA room was too small and compact for the kind of sex they were going to get into. They took off their shoes in the foyer and dropped their jackets on the floor. No one had been ignored so much as they ignored the coat rack. Even with the alcohol and their age, Phoenix bent him over the dining table in 4 seconds flat. Miles was never going to argue. 

All teeth and tongue, he kissed Miles from the nape of his neck to the base of his spine. Overeager, Miles opened up as many buttons on his shirt as he could reach but impatiently, Phoenix took it off of him like a t-shirt. It wasn't every day that a silk Tom Ford found its way half-atop a garbage bin with a sleeve kissing the carpeted floor, but hey. Phoenix’s tee joined it 5 inches away, with their belts and pants joining soon after. 

When Phoenix kneeled between his open feet, took the globes of his ass and parted them, Miles clutched the end of the glass table. Next, he licked a broad stripe up his perineum to his hole. Miles had nowhere to hide the moan. Nothing to bite, nothing to say, nothing at all. 

Phoenix brought down a stinging slap on each cheek. Miles bit down a gasp, his curling toes finding some purchase on the carpet. With no warning, he blew on the hole, sending a multitude of shivers up Mile’s spine. 

“Don’t hold the noises, Miles,” he warned. Phoenix had always had a thing for enthusiastic consent.

God, but they had done it before. So much. His body remembered Phoenix. And Phoenix had clearly not forgotten him. His tongue wasn’t good just in court and the twisting of it inside him had him crying already. 

“Please,” he whispered.

“Hmm?” Phoenix asked, tongue not stopping for a second. The vibration felt so good and it had been 5 years since he’d touched another person… He quickly snuck his hand to the base of his dick and clenched it, staving the climax away.

“Baby, fuck me on the bed. Please. I need you. So bad, Phoenix, firebird , please.”

Phoenix finally pulled away, not without a soft kiss pressed right on his entrance. “Fuck, you’re so hot like this.” He took him by his dick, like a dog on a leash, leading the way to the bedroom. Miles thought he would die . He’d be happy too. 

Phoenix pressed kisses into his mouth as he kicked the door shut with his foot. Throwing Miles on the bed, he got on top, one hand roving over his chest, the other diving for lube and condoms in the nightstand’s drawer. When Miles heard the cap pop, he groaned and spread his legs, allowing easier entry for Phoenix’s desperate digits. 

Still, he could not bring himself to look away from his gorgeous brown-blue eyes. Phoenix settled between his legs, forcing him to spread them even wider, and lay himself over his body. He pressed open-mouthed kisses all over his jaw, leaving marks everywhere, uncaring about the next morning. Miles threw his head back, licking his lips at the sensation. He himself had no idea how much he missed this. 

All he could say was a litany of Phoenix’s name, mixed with firebird and Katze , falling out of his mouth like a mantra. One of his hands was gripping Phoenix’s hair - he was so glad that Phoenix hadn’t gelled his hair up in his signature spikes today, rather his fingers closed around soft locks - his other hand at the small of Phoenix’s back. 

His digits found his hole with practised ease, and Miles waited for a second for the cold to hit, but it never did. As always, Phoenix had warmed the lube up on his fingers. It took Phoenix a sum total of 0.2 seconds to find his prostate and dig at it the exact way that had always made him keen. 

“FIREBIRD, FUCK ME, PLEASE!” he screamed. “Please, I need it, I need you. Please, Phoenix, please.”

“Miles, it’s not enough prep.”

“Let it burn, I don’t care,” he replied, dry-throated, pathetic, desperate. “I will die if you don’t do it right now.”

“No, Love ,” he replied. Firm. The word Love echoed through the now-mostly-empty halls of his mind. The cap popped again and Miles whined at the loss of Phoenix’s fingers only for three to come back, scissoring and stretching him open. 

“Please!!”

“Patience,” he commanded, making Miles fall silent. Letting out a high-pitched whine, he waited. 

When he was satisfied with prep, Phoenix pressed a kiss to Mile’s forehead. “You ready?”

If his brain could form words, he would have replied ‘Have been since we stepped into the agency.’ Sadly, his mental faculties were all focused on not cumming the second he felt Phoenix’s tip at his hole. He just nodded urgently.

Phoenix pushed in, what seemed like a millimetre at a time, making sure he didn’t hurt Miles. Impatience took its toll and Miles lifted both his legs and put them at the small of his back, moving his hands to the shoulder blades on his back. With this newfound leverage, he pulled Phoenix into himself. 

“Baby, you’ll get hurt!” Phoenix protested, but Miles was having none of that. 

“If you don’t start railing me like you mean it in the next three seconds, I am going to flip us and ride you until we both are too sore,” he threatened. “Or I’ll rail you, whichever is more convenient.”

Phoenix huffed an amused laugh. “God, Kay needs to stop teaching you profanity.” Still, he instantly picked up the pace, much to Miles’ relief. As the pressure built up, they both had a horrifying realisation, seemingly at the same time. They would have to hope for round 2, because they were not going to last. There were too many feelings, too many hormones clogging every bit of brain space.

“Miles, I- I’m sorry! I’m close,” Phoenix panted. “You feel so good. So tight for me!”

“I’m right there with you,” he gasped. “Go harder, Firebird, go faster. I’m not a toy, I can take it. You know I can.”

Phoenix nodded, turning off his caring mode and turning on the part of him that wanted to fuck Miles until he couldn’t walk for a week without feeling the imprint of his dick. 

With speed, came wild savagery. As Phoenix angled Miles better, even as he drew punched-out little ah-ah-ahs from his mouth, he made sure to drag against the prostate with every thrust. Miles was flushed. Phoenix bent over to pinch a nipple and Miles cried out, painting both their chests white with a scream. As he spasmed from the orgasm, Phoenix tipped over the edge too, slamming in once-twice-thrice and digging his hands in Mile’s shoulders. Miles thrashed his upper body on the bed with overstimulation. Phoenix lay down on top and held him, softening inside, both unwilling to move lest the moment end and reality hit. 

When their breaths returned to them, Phoenix pulled out gently, Miles still wincing at the drag. Phoenix rolled to his side, removing the condom and disposing of it, rolling further to grab baby wipes from the same drawer, and wiping both of them down. 

Pressing a kiss to his lips, Phoenix draped two bedsheets over them, cuddling up. Miles drew a breath full of Phoenix, finally feeling like he came home to a warm cup of tea after hours lost in a snowy jungle. 

The minutes passed like molasses, both of them suspended in time like a drop of dew gathered at the edge of a blade of grass, neither wanting to move or speak, break the tension, fall to the floor, gone, perhaps, forever.

It was only an hour - or 5, or days, who could tell - later that Phoenix squirmed.

“Miles,” he asked, soft. 

“Mm?”

“Was this a one-time thing?” The insecurity in his voice hit Miles with full force. You did this.

“I would be your husband; if you would have me back.”

Phoenix paused and Miles’s blood ran cold. 

Voice thick with post-orgasm haze and unshed tears, Phoenix asked, “Haven’t we missed a few steps here?”

Miles snorted, the thick atmosphere making way for oxygen. “There will never be anyone else for me. I want you, Phoenix.” He tightened his hold on the man, as if Phoenix would want to be anywhere but right here. “And I want your family. With mine. Ours. I want you, with Trucy. With Apollo. With Maya and Pearly and Franziscka. With Kay and Seb and Ema and Veera. And, hell, Klavier.” He paused. There was no reply. “I mean, take your time, make whatever decisions you need to. I’m not saying tomorrow, or the day after, or the month after, or even within the year. There’s no expiry date to this proposal.”

“Okay,” Phoenix whispered back. “I need a little time to… process everything. It’s a bit much.”

“You have the rest of our lives to say yes,” Miles replied, dropping a little kiss on his forehead. “Now go to sleep, Katze . We can talk tomorrow.”

“You won’t disappear?”

“I’m here, for you. I’m here.”

Phoenix nodded, falling asleep almost immediately. As if the confirmation that he would be there was all that was tethering him to consciousness.

“No, you’re not,” he replied, fully asleep.

“Yes, Phoenix,” he replied. “I AM.”

He opened his bleary eyes with a last push of energy.

“Are you really?”

“Yes, and I’ll be here tomorrow, and the day after that, and the week after that, for all the years to come.”

Phoenix smiled sleepily, fluttering his eyes close, “‘Mkay”. He was, at long last, whisked away by Morpheus, in Miles’s arms and entirely out of reach. And if the grip of his thigh was strong, he said nothing. Instead, he got comfortable and followed soon after.

The last thing they needed was the doorknob to turn. 

“ Daddy ?” Trucy’s voice reverberated through the home office. 

Chapter Text

Miles and Phoenix separated like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on them. “Truce, hold on—”

Suddenly, Trucy Wright was standing in the room, flooding the room with harsh fluorescent light, and the two men clutched the bedsheets to themselves. She took in the state of them — the sweat lining their bodies, the smell of sex in the closed quarters of the room. It would take someone far stupider than her to not realise what was going on. Instead of disgust, for a second, fear reigned over her face. 

“Really, Daddy?” Trucy said. Her voice was brittle — on the edge of breaking. They had expected disgust and anger. Her heartbreak caught them off guard. Neither being in a position to really get up and comfort her, they sat there.

“Baby, I can explain.” Phoenix looked just about as heartbroken. “I never meant to hurt you — or hide this from you. It’s just — it’s very new and complicated. These are murky waters to traverse and I didn’t want to bring you in before this was more stable  —”

“You think that’s what I’m worried about?” she asked, finally settling on anger. “You think I am upset you didn’t tell me you were fucking some dude?”

“TRUCY!” Phoenix’s voice held a warning, but no threat. “Please don’t speak to me like that. I’m your father.”

She scoffed. “For how much longer, though?”

Phoenix blinked. “What?”

“WHEN WILL YOU LEAVE ME TOO?” she yelled. She looked just as surprised by that outburst. Immediately, she lowered her voice. “All my life — all of it. I  — I had no one until I had you. My other daddy — my — Mr Grammarye. Even at home, he was never really mine. He always belonged to his art more than anything, anyone. He cared nothing for me but my magic. Leaving me, I think it was harder for him to leave the magic he handed down to me than anything else. Only you,” she sniffed, “only you never loved me in the want of something from me. I only ever had you. But Mr Edgeworth has always hated me —”

“Trucy, he doesn’t —”

 “I can tell when people lie, Daddy. And I can tell he never wanted me. I was part of a package deal, the burden that came with loving you — and you. I — I don’t blame him. How could he not love you? How could anyone not? You’re — Daddy. But you had always loved him too and when he left — I always knew it was my fault, people tend to leave me — but you stayed. You stayed and you loved me and you told me I was not guilty of it. You told me if anyone was to blame it was him.”

“And it is true,” Phoenix said.

“But now, you’ve finally chosen, haven’t you?” she asked. She took in a deep breath and her posture shifted. She looked like a prisoner asking for the time of her execution  — someone who had accepted their fate, who knew it was sealed and no amount of fighting would make a difference. “Will you let me stay the night then? I’ll be packed and gone before dawn. Will you love me enough to afford me that much time?”

Phoenix grabbed the second bedsheet nearest to him and got out, tying it around his waist. Miles sat stunned on the bed. Phoenix beelined to her and took her in his trembling arms. “Truce, honey, what are you saying? You are my daughter. I love you. I’m never letting you go.”

She broke, weeping into his chest. “He will make you.”

“No, sweetheart, no!” Phoenix joined in, crying too. “No one can make me lose you. You will never, ever not be my daughter. You come before anyone else. You come before me. You come before the air I breathe. You are my daughter, Trucy. God, I would not leave you for the world.”

“That’s not fair to you,” she cried. “It was me. I kept him from you all this time. You have loved him so fiercely and I have kept him from you by being in your life. I should have left years back when I heard you fighting that night. I’m sorry I stayed.  I had no one else. I still don’t. There’s Aunt Maya and Uncles Larry and Gumshoe, but they’re not you. And I didn’t want to go then — I don’t want to go now, too.”

“Baby, you’re not going anywhere.” Phoenix ran his fingers through her hair in desperation. “You’re not going anywhere and I’m not going anywhere. I’m here, baby. I’m here. With you.”

“But he’s here —”

“Yes, he is. But he won’t make you leave. Will you, Edgeworth?”

Edgeworth looked up, in tears himself. God, what have I done! How much damage have I caused? “No. No, god no! I was wrong. I was afraid back then. I was stupid and frightened and I didn't know anything. I never hated you, Trucy. God. I’m not  — I’m not making you go anywhere. If you need me to, and if your father needs me to, I will go — but I’m never making you go. I never could. Your father — because he truly is that before he is anything else. He would choose no one over you  — certainly not me.”

“You’re lying,” she started crying uncontrollably, in the theroes of a panic attack. “You’re lying. Daddy will leave. Daddy will leave me .” She clutched him harder, like she was now trying to fight destiny itself and she knew she was on the losing end. “Don’t go, Daddy. Please don’t go. Please, I’ll be good. I’ll be better. I’ll always listen to you, and — and no more teacher complaints. I’ll attend all my classes and I won’t make Polly my assistant. Please, Daddy.”

“Hey, shh.” Phoenix was crying just as hard. “Baby, Truce, no. I’m not going anywhere. I promise. I promise. I’m never leaving you. I —” He looked up. “Miles. Left bedside table. Hand me the magatama.”

Miles scrambled to follow. Grabbing the stone and the bedsheet, he handed it to Phoenix who gave it to a still-weeping Trucy. “Here. Take this. You know how it works. Ask me if I’m leaving.”

“Are you leaving?” she asked, putting the stone to her eye, trembling.

“I am never, ever leaving you.” 

Her sobbing paused, tears still streaming down, then she lowered the magatama. The panic left her eyes. “No locks!”

He smiled at her through tears. “No locks.”

She looked at Edgeworth. “Was I the reason you left?”

“No  —”

“She can tell, Edgeworth.”

“No — I, it wasn’t. I. It’s a little more complex.” He sighed. “Tru — Ms Wright, if we are to have this conversation, might I suggest you wait until your father and I are a little more  — presentable?”

“When I haven’t just caught you doing the dirty behind my back, you mean?”

“Would you rather we put on a show?”Edgeworth scoffed.

“Wouldn’t be his first time,” she scoffed back.

“What?” exclaimed Edgeworth with unbridled shock.

“What?” exclaimed Phoenix with guilty betrayal.

“What?” exclaimed Trucy with petty pleasure.

“What does she mean?” he asked Phoenix.

Phoenix looked away and shrugged, skin resembling a harsh sunburn. “Money was tight and DILFs were in. Piano and poker only pay so much and I wasn’t about to let my 11-year-old daughter run the house.”

“So you… what?”

“There were Bachelorette parties,” he confessed, “sometimes stag nights. Those kept us afloat for months on end. And there was no need to… gratify anyone beyond the dancing.”

“Phoenix —”

“No!” he warned. “Don’t you dare say sorry and don’t you look at me with pity. I did what I had to and I am not ashamed.”

“It’s not about shame. It’s about trauma.” Miles put his palms over his eye sockets. “What have I done? Mein Gott, was habe Ich gemacht? Ich war so dumm und feige. Ich war so ein Idiot! Verdammt! Also egozentrisch. Warum habe ich nicht gedacht – warum habe ich nur nicht gedacht? Ich bin ein verdammter Miststück. ” (My god, what have I done? I was so stupid and cowardly. I was such an idiot! Dammit! So self-centred. Why didn't I think  — why didn't I think? I’m a fucking bastard.)

“Okay, that's enough swears for Trucy for today,” Phoenix declared. “Miles, stop spiralling. Truce, sweetheart, could you go wait in the living room? We’ll be right out.”

Trucy nodded and went.

Phoenix went to Miles and sat beside him. “Don’t blame yourself for this. There’s plenty of other things to blame yourself for.”

“How could I not? I should have left behind more. I should have given you a credit card. I would have left  —”

“And you think I would have used any of that?”

Miles paused in his misery. Not Phoenix. Not his firebird. 

“Exactly,” Phoenix said, reading his mind. “Now put on some clothes. You owe her explanations.”

Miles nodded, already putting his clothes on. When he was dressed, shirt tucked and all, he looked at Phoenix in his long t-shirt and shorts. God, how could he have refused this man? Every day, he cursed himself a little more. But right now, he wanted to shove himself off a cliff.

Outside was a whole new beast to tame. Trucy was furious. She had every right. It didn’t hurt any less for it. 

“What I don't understand,” she raged at her father, “is why him ? If you don’t learn from others’ mistakes, at least learn from your own.”

“Truce, baby, the heart wants what it wants,” Phoenix said. “And for me, it has always been him.”

“You haven’t even tried to go out with anyone else!”

Selfishly, unfairly, a wave of smug satisfaction rolled over Edgeworth. Even without him there, Phoenix was his. Whatever it took now, he would never lose him again.

“I have,” Phoenix confessed. “You just didn’t know about it.”

It doesn't matter, Miles told himself. Phoenix can do what he wants. At least he shielded Trucy from it.

“So you DID go out with Mr Gavin!”

“Kristoph?!” Phoenix’s voice pitched in indignation. “No! God, no! Ugh. God, no. I meant, before you, Truce. Before him. There was this girl named Dahlia. I was in college.”

Oh, Dahlia. Iris. That debacle.

“That’s what I meannnnnn, Daddy,” she replied in exasperation. “Those were before him.”

Phoenix smiled, a little broken. Miles never wanted to see that expression on his face ever again. “Baby. Sometimes, you meet a person. For better or for worse, they are your one. It doesn’t happen to everyone, always, all the time. But if you meet them and if you’re lucky, you get to be with them and you know, within your heart, within your soul, that there will never be anyone else. You fit in like a puzzle piece.” He looked up at Edgeworth here. “There will never be anyone ‘after him’ for me.”

Edgeworth noticed tears running down his own face. Two times in one night was a little excessive, even for him.

“For me too,” he spoke. “There is no ‘next one’ for me.”

“There better not be,” Trucy said to him, darkness in her voice.  “He is naive. He is forgiving. He believes in second chances. And thirds. And fourths. He is all that is good in the world.” Her rage bored into Edgeworth. “I am NOT him.”

This wasn’t the little girl he had left behind in his foolishness. This was a woman in the making. This was the daughter of the Turnabout Terror. This was the niece of Franziska Von Karma. This was the sister of the famed Yatagarsu, unafraid of him, of the world. She could take on a cement wall, or the pentagon, and come out on top. 

This was Trucy Wright, in all her blindfolded knife-throwing glory who looked about ready to have an accidental ‘slip’ his way if he so much as stepped a toe out of line. 

He nodded. There was nothing else left to say. Only a promise he would spend his life keeping.

When they were alone again, he glanced at his firebird as they took off some of their clothes to get into bed.

“You never asked me for an explanation. Why?” 

Phoenix looked at him, as seriously as when Miles had been on the stand. 

“You don’t owe me explanations, Miles.” Before Miles could argue that he damn well did, Phoenix continued. “I don’t particularly care why you did the awful things you did. So I have no need for explanations. You owe me none of those.”

“Phoe-” 

“You owe me reparations.”

Miles stopped what he was doing and weighed the words against his tongue, against his soul. Phoenix was entirely right. “What are your demands?”

Phoenix’s gaze bore into his. Intense. Unremorseful. Unyielding. This is where Trucy got it from. Miles knew that, in this moment, there was nothing he couldn’t ask. He faced it head-on. There was nothing he wouldn’t give.

“Exactly what I was always owed. The rest of your life — every single part of it.”

Miles smiled at that. Ah, the softness of defense lawyers, ready to let you reclaim your life — even the parts that stood forfeit. “I was a fool to have made you wait. I am sorry that I put you through… everything , on your own, alone. For something that has always been yours. I submit to your demands wholly. I accept them on any terms you may set. On my feet. On my knees. How ever you would have me.”

A smile finally broke through Phoenix. “Just don’t forget it.”

A better lawyer than Phoenix would have taken it in writing. A better lawyer than Miles would never have promised it. He sealed the promise as he sealed Phoenix’s lips with his.

“Never again.”