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“D’you ever want to, you know, get married?” Phoenix pushes the half-scrambled eggs around the skillet, scraping the edges in a smooth gesture. He’s been meaning to broach the subject almost since they’d gotten together, and he figures 9:30 on a Saturday is as good a time as any.
Miles sips his tea and shakes his head. He turns the page of the newspaper he’s reading. Doesn’t seem to notice that he’s just ruined half of Phoenix’s life plans in one fell swoop.
“Wha- why not?”
Miles worries at his lip and scans a page. “Why would I?”
“It’s like, a declaration of love, you know?” Phoenix shuffles the eggs onto a pair of plates and moves to sit next to Miles. “Makes it official and lawful and stuff.”
Miles sets down his mug and accepts the plate of scrambled eggs. He kisses Phoenix’s cheek. “Enough things in my life are official and lawful, Phoenix, and I would hope anyone I am entangled with would know I love them, even without a ceremony. And besides...” He pokes at the eggs with a fork. “Ah, it doesn’t matter. What kind of cheese is this?”
“Uh…” Phoenix blinks down at his plate, trying to remember. “Feta, I think. Maya’s going through a cheese-making phase and she dropped it off yesterday.”
Miles tentatively tastes a bite of the eggs and nods. “Impressive. Thank you, bird.”
“Of course! You know that-”
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day?” Miles smiles fondly. “I know that you’re a parent, Phoenix, but you needn’t drill it in whenever you cook for me.”
“He doesn’t want to get married,” Phoenix exclaims the moment he gets through the door.
“Oh look,” Apollo says, “Trash dad is back.” He scans Phoenix, taking in his sweatpants and the beanie he still wears on weekends. “Are you wearing this for cases, now?”
“This is my day off, Apollo, I’ll wear what I want.” Phoenix collapses into his desk chair.
“What are you doing here if it’s your day off, Daddy?” Trucy asks, wandering into the office. She’s carrying a stack of papers almost as tall as her and probably heavier than anything Phoenix could lift. He’s so proud of his girl.
“Why are you here? I mean, you don’t even work here.”
Trucy drops the files onto Apollo’s desk and strikes a pose, showing off the new scarft Phoenix is pretty sure Miles bought. For himself. “Got a part time job carrying things Polly can’t lift. I have to pay for college somehow. ”
Phoenix mimes wiping a tear. “My baby’s hired muscle now… I’m so proud.”
Trucy turns to Apollo. “See, this is why I’m not living at home. He does this whenever I do anything, and Papa gets this weird look on his face and it’s really irritating.”
Apollo shrugs. “Point taken, but my couch is taken half the time, so you can’t really stay there.”
Trucy pouts. “Relationship troubles?”
“No,” Apollo says at the same time Phoenix cries “Yes! Listen to me!”
“Wait, if it’s not because Klavier’s fucking up, why’s your couch taken?” Trucy leans on the files, one eyebrow raised. Phoenix resigns himself to being ignored.
Apollo ducks his head. “We got a dog,” he says resignedly. “She sleeps on the couch whenever Klavier’s home.”
Trucy screeches- proof that however old she gets, she’ll still be the nine-year-old who was enamored with Pess. “You got a DOGGO without TELLING ME?”
“ ‘Whenever Klavier’s home’,” Phoenix repeats, eyebrow cocked. “So it sleeps on your bed the rest of the time?”
Apollo shoots Phoenix an irritated look. “She wants to, I’m not going to stop her. Klavier hates getting fur on the sheets, though.”
“What’s her name?” Trucy asks. “When can I meet her?”
“It’s Hündchen , because Klavier is obviously incapable of coming up with a good name.” Apollo rolls his eyes. “But it doesn’t matter. What’s wrong with your marriage, Wright?”
“The fact that it’s not an actual marriage,” Phoenix sighs. “I finally asked Miles if he’d ever want to get married, and he said no.”
“I can’t say I’m surprised,” Trucy says. She eyes Apollo’s phone. “Do you have pictures of Ha- Hond- Hündchen on here?” She asks, swiping it and starting to tap at the screen.
Apollo flushes. “Yeah… my password is-”
“I already know it,” Trucy says. “Something something Gaviners, and then your birth year. I just can’t figure out how to use this fucking phone. Where’d you even get an iPhone X?” She shakes the phone, then taps furiously at the bottom of the screen.
“He’s dating a multi-millionaire,” Phoenix says dryly.
“So are you,” Apollo spits. He grabs the phone from Trucy and unlocks it. “I was fine sticking with my Samsung phone but Klavier insisted, and I mean…”
Phoenix nods solemnly. “It’s a slippery slope, I know. One minute you’re accepting a new phone, the next you’re flying to Germany in a private jet, wearing a tailored suit. You can’t win.”
“Wow, Polly, you’ve got a lot of pictures here,” Trucy marvels. “And Hündchen is adorable.”
“Klavier doesn’t want to get married either,” Apollo says, ignoring Trucy
“You’re literally twenty-four,” Phoenix says. “Lots of people don’t want to get married when they’re in their twenties. It seems dumb when you’re young.” It hadn’t ever seemed dumb to Pheonix, but Phoenix was less jaded than most twenty-year-olds.
“Nah,” Apollo says, “he’s just opposed to it on principle, you know? He’s spent a lot of time involved in the gay lib movement and just doesn’t like the idea of being married. Assimilation versus liberation and the history of the institution of marriage and all that stuff. He says getting married would feel like he’s just trying to get the approval of a bunch of cishet people whose approval he doesn’t want. I don’t really care, so I’m fine with just being his long-term partner, not his husband." He grimaces. “Also, I used to have nightmares about having to wear wedding dresses before I transitioned, and having an actual wedding would hit a bit too close to home, even if I get to wear suits now.”
“Yeah,” Trucy says, looking up from Apollo’s phone. “Marriage has always felt like, super sketchy to me. Even if you ignore the really misogynistic history of it and stuff, if I marry a guy…” she trails off and makes a face. “I mean, you can’t really ignore the history of it, can you? So much of it is evocative of women being sold, even now. Your father ‘giving you away’? Maybe it’s just because I’m such a radical Gen-Z kid, but doesn’t seem that great.” She glances back down and coos. “Aw… she’s such a cute little puppy.”
Phoenix groans. “I just wanted to call him my husband,” he says, leaning back in his chair.
“You already do that,” Trucy says.
“But it always feels like lying! I’ve always wanted to have a big wedding, ever since I was a kid. One with declarations of love and all of our friends and loved ones and all that stuff. It felt like part of the happy ending, you know?”
“You can have a party without getting married,” Apollo points out, taking the first file off the stack.
“Yeah,” Phoenix says despondently. “Guess I should talk to Miles about this.”
“Yeah, you should.” Apollo absently waves him away. “I have paperwork to do.”
Phoenix drops his book on the nightstand and turns toward his partner. “Hey, can we talk about earlier?”
“What happened earlier?” Miles asks. He slides the bookmark back into his novel and shifts to look at Phoenix. The street lights bleeding through their blinds cast warm lines across his face, and he’s smiling softly.
“About how you don’t want to get married? I don’t really understand. I talked about it with Truce and Apollo earlier, but-”
“You talked about our relationship with your employee and your daughter?” Miles’s smile turns amused.
“Well, yeah, and she’s our daughter.” Phoenix starts to rub circles against his palm. “I would’ve talked about it with Maya, but she only talks about cheese these days, so she wouldn’t be much help.”
“You could’ve talked to me,” Miles says, reaching out and taking one of Phoenix’s hands, toying with it absently.
“I wanted to do some research first,” Phoenix says, and Miles smirks. “I was just hoping you’d explain more?”
“Okay, well.” He pauses. “I don’t want to get married. I already told you why: I simply don’t see the purpose. What benefit do we get from it?”
“Well, taxes and stuff, and I get to throw a party about how much I love you,”
“We don’t need tax benefits, bird, and you can throw a party whenever you’d like. Why do you want to have a wedding?”
“Why don’t you?” Phoenix shoots back, and Miles gets a long-suffering look on his face.
“I just told you.”
“Those aren’t the real reasons, though, those are just reasons why you wouldn’t bother. If that was it, you’d be fine going through with a ceremony because it would make me happy.” Phoenix can tell by the look on Miles’s face that he’s right, and he squeezes his partner’s hand.
“True. I admit that I am not completely comfortable with the idea of someone being legally and spiritually chained to me. I am not religious, but I once was, and it was not a pleasant time in my life. Marriages are typically performed in churches and even secular weddings are still very much religious. Additionally, the formality of commitment with weddings makes me feel a bit odd.” Miles takes a deep breath. “It worries me that you feel the need to have a wedding to keep me here. Are you still concerned that I will-”
“No!” Phoenix says. He frowns. “No, that’s not what I meant at all. I just love you and-”
“You want to shove that in your co-workers faces?”
“More like your co-worker’s faces, but yeah, basically.” Phoenix wraps an arm around Miles’s shoulder and sighs. “No, it’s just been something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid, you know? My parents had a really shitty marriage and I always wanted to prove that I would do better. When gay marriage was legalized I was fucking thrilled because I actually could, and…” Phoenix trails off. “I just want to, you know?”
Miles gazes out the window. “I understand that, bird. Wanting to prove that you wouldn’t make the same mistakes as your family is understandable. But I wouldn’t want a marriage borne out of spite.”
“That’s not what I meant. I want to get married to you because I fucking love you.”
“No, you want to get married to me to prove something to yourself that doesn’t need to be proven.” Miles's voice is soft and he rubs at Phoenix’s palm as he speaks. “I know you, Phoenix Wright, and I know myself, and I love you. Marriage wouldn’t change that fact.”
Phoenix stares at Miles’s hands. “Can I call you my husband, though?”
Miles laughs. “I was under the impression you already did.”
They’re both almost asleep. Phoenix blinks slowly against Miles’s shoulder and pokes at one of his moles.
“What is it, bird?” His husband asks, sleep lacing every word.
“Can we still have a party, though?”
“Of course. I’ll even give a speech about how much I love you, if that’s what you want.”
“We can’t let Maya plan it. I can’t eat cheese ever again.”
Miles laughs. “Duly noted,” he murmurs.
“I love you, though.”
“I love you too.”