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It had been a long time since Trucy had seen her daddy truly grin. Sure, he'd given her a few pathetic, droopy smiles before, a quick upturn of his mouth that went along with pain filled eyes. She knew those weren't really real, though.
It hurt her to see him be sad. She'd only known him when he was like this, but she could tell that there was somebody behind that raggedy four o' clock shadow. For the entire two year duration of her being under his care, all he'd ever been was depressed, but she could imagine him as a proud defense attorney, wearing that same blue suit she'd found when she'd searched through his drawers one day. She'd held it and felt that cheap polyester on her fingers, let that fantasy take her over. She wanted it to be real, because she knew that would make him happy again; he'd be the person she knew was under that tired exterior.
This was all just a fantasy, however; he wasn't going to get his attorney's badge back. At the young age of ten, she knew this. She'd seen too much to cling onto blind hope.
Daddy wasn't going to be happy again, no matter what she did or how hard she tried. That thought shattered her, the first time she'd realized it, and it refused to leave her alone. It would creep up on her when she was least expecting it; one second, she would be just laying in bed, and then next second, she'd be silently sobbing, twisting her sheets in desperate hands. She wanted to wail as loud as she could, scream to whoever was listening that she was hurting, that she wanted something so badly and she couldn't have it. If she did that, though, then he'd hear her, and then he'd be more sad. The feelings had to stay inside, locked away.
And then she heard the laugh.
It happened one day while she was in the agency, sitting on the couch while playing with a deck of cards; she was getting really good at doing cool things with it, and she could make the cards dance between her fingers and fly through the air. She was trying to master a trick where she'd make a card go down her sleeve and appear in her hat. It was tough, but she was getting close to mastering it.
Her concentration was broken when she heard that sound, though. It was so foreign that, for a second, she almost believed that it hadn't come from Daddy, standing nearby.
It was a happy sound, filled with hope and love.
Trucy abandoned her deck of cards, throwing them haphazardly on the table, and then snuck into the adjacent room, peering around the corner to spy on him. He was holding his old phone in his hand, grinning.
"Edgeworth, I'm so glad you're coming back. You have to meet my daughter, Trucy."
A pause, and then he laughed again.
"Yeah, she's really something. Great magician. You'll have to make one of her shows. Anyway, you said your flight's next week? Where are you gonna stay? Clearwater, that hotel? God, so many bad things have happened there... kidnapping, murder, various other crimes... I hope it doesn't bring back any memories. I'd offer you another place, but I don't think you'd fit on the couch in my office."
Another pause. His expression fell, that familiar saddened creeping back into it. "Yeah, I lost the apartment. Oh, Trucy has a room, too, though, she sleeps in the place that used to be that oversized supply closet. Has a bed, dresser, everything you'd ever need. Alright, well, I've got to go. See you next week. Bye, love—... see ya."
Trucy darted back into the main office area, fearing what would happen if she got caught. She busied herself with the cards, shuffling them again and again—
"Hey, Trucy. What are you up to?" He asked, walking into the room. She kept her eyes down, focused on the deck.
"Learning a new trick," she answered, struggling to keep her voice even.
"I won't bother you, then. I'm gonna go out to the store, alright?"
"Okay," she mumbled, attempting the trick again and watching the card fall onto the ground, forlorn. She was too distracted to do anything correctly.
Normally, he'd noticed when she wasn't quite feeling right, and she braced herself for the usual "what's wrong", but it never came. The only sound she heard was footsteps and the creaking of the door opening and closing as her dad left.
When she was sure he was gone, she finally looked up, letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. She had not idea why she'd been so nervous about the concept of him finding out that she'd been eavesdropping on him; he'd never gotten actually mad at her, only briefly annoyed if she accidentally broke something or woke him up in the middle of the night. Maybe she wasn't actually scared by that at all, then. Maybe she was scared of the part of daddy that she'd never seen before. The part that laughed and grinned for no reason, the part that expressed emotion like a normal person.
The part of Daddy that almost said "I love you" to the person he was talking to on the phone.
--
All it took was a week, and Daddy had changed. He was freshly shaven, and smelled of cologne. His sweatshirt was newly cleaned, lacking its previous stains. His eyes held a new spark in them that Trucy has never seen.
She didn't know why he was like this, now. She'd always wanted to see him happy again, of course, but it was strange; she'd thought that getting his badge back would make him better, but now, for no reason, he was acting like a normal person.
This new version of Daddy left the office at 7:00 PM, on the mark, with a cheerful goodbye and a wave. This new version of Daddy came home only two hours later, not smelling like beer from the bar he worked at, grinning like a madman. This new version of Daddy wrapped her in a hug, not telling her what he'd just been doing.
"Did you go to work, Daddy? Why are you home so early?"
"No, I didn't go to work, sweetheart."
"Where didja go, then?" she asked, feeling more than a bit tentative.
"Just to see a friend I haven't seen in a while. That's all."
And that was the end of the conversation. Trucy decided that the friend had to be a pretty good friend for him to be so happy after seeing them, though.
Just a day later, he left at the same time, and came back again, beaming. His cheeks were rosy and he wouldn't stop zoning out for the next few days, just looking off into the distance and sighing. Trucy remembered seeing people act the same way in romance movies she'd watched, and decided that Daddy was probably in love.
"Are you going on dates, Daddy? Is that where you've been?" she asked one evening, while he was tucking her in and saying goodnight.
"No, no, I've just been meeting up with my good friend. He cheers me up, that's all."
He. Trucy has been wrong, they weren't dates; after all, her dad wouldn't date a man, that was weird. Men went on dates with women.
He went out again the next day, for the third time. He came back later, but still not as late as he did when he went for a night shift at work. He looked rumpled, his hair messed up and his beanie on crooked. His lip was busted, and his cheeks were flushed again.
"Daddy! Did you get in a fight? Your lip is bleeding!" she cried when he walked in the door. He stiffened, hand immediately going to cover his mouth.
"It's nothing, sweetheart, don't worry." Trucy didn't press anymore, but she thought it was weird.
When he left again the next day, he left earlier and came back very late, at ten; that was Trucy's bedtime. He apologized profusely, and she said it was alright. But she was worried; his lips looked swollen, just like before.
She didn't ask anymore, though, because he'd just say it was nothing again. Plus, he seemed happy and not at all upset when he came back from his dates, so maybe it was okay. It was strange, though. He said he was just going to meet his good friend... why would his mouth get hurt when he was doing that? Was he really not doing that? Was he lying to her?
Apparently, no. The next day, the good friend showed up at the door, asking where he was.
Trucy had been trying to fix Mr. Hat, who had gotten a bit banged up after a trick went awry, when she heard the knock at the door. Daddy had said that he wasn't going to be home for another hour; it was three PM on a Saturday, and he usually went shopping before coming home and getting ready to go to work. Unless if he was home early, then that meant there was a stranger at the door.
After putting Mr. Hat away, she crept up to it, and peered through the peephole; there was a well-dressed man standing there. He had gray hair, a red suit, and a little frilly thing around his neck. She didn't want to trust a stranger, but he looked nice, and plus, people who didn't know either her or her father didn't show up at the agency.
She opened the door.
"Ah, greeting. Do you know where I could find Mr. Wright..." his voice trailed off as he looked around the office, taking in the mess, most likely. "God, I told him to clean up," he hissed under his breath.
"Oh, Daddy's at the store right now. He'll be home really soon, though, if you want to wait here. Who are you, though? Are you his good friend?"
"Err, yes. I'm his good friend, I suppose. My name is Miles Edgeworth. You're Trucy Wright, correct?"
Trucy giggled. "Yeah. Did he tell you about me?"
"Yes, I've heard extensively about you and your magic tricks. You're quite good, I assume?"
"Yeah! I practice all the time, and one day, I'm gonna be a famous magician!"
"A very ambitious dream to have. I'm sure you can achieve it."
After that, Trucy let him in, and he cleared out a small spot on the couch to sit on. It was strange, seeing such a fancy-looking person in such a dirty room.
"Your father doesn't clean up much, does he?" he grumbled, picking up an old Steel Samurai shirt, folding it, and neatly setting it aside. He took a seat after that, and Trucy plopped down next to him.
"No, he doesn't have time to. He's always off working so that he can get enough food for the both of us and pay the rent."
"Quite admirable."
More silence.
"Whenever Daddy goes off to see you, he always comes back looking happy. I'm... I'm glad you do that. He's been sad for such a long time."
"Oh, I... I didn't realize he was so depressed in my absence. I'm glad I can make him feel a bit better, though."
"I think you're a very good person, Mr. Edgeworth! It's just..."
"Just what?"
"Well, whenever he comes back from hanging out with you, his mouth is bleeding... and it's just kind of weird."
Mr. Edgeworth stiffened, sucking in a harsh breath. "Your father is just... he's just a very clumsy man. He'll occasionally bang his face into things."
But there was something weird about the way Edgeworth fiddled with his hands and bit his lip after saying that, and Trucy didn't know if she could totally believe him. That was weird.
They sat and talked a little bit, and then, her dad came home; he lit up when he saw Mr. Edgeworth. They went into the other room for a few minutes, talking in low voices while Trucy strained her ears, trying to make out what they were saying. She couldn't really catch anything, but somehow, Mr. Edgeworth ended up staying for dinner.
During the meal, Daddy was animated, gesturing a lot. He never wiped that smile off of his face; he seemed so alive when he talked to Mr. Edgeworth. Trucy has to admit, it was one of the most interesting meals she had in a long time.
And even though it was still a little strange, she was glad Mr. Edgeworth was here to make him happy. While she could still see some of that sadness, see the tiredness in his eyes and the slump of his shoulders, she could tell that Mr. Edgeworth gave him some sort of extra life.
Mr. Edgeworth left after that, promising to come again soon. Soon turned out to be the next evening.
It barely even occurred to Trucy that Daddy was missing work at the bar. She brought it up while they were eating, and he explained that he'd just taken a few days off for himself. He seemed to be spending a lot of time with Mr. Edgeworth, though, so she wasn't sure if it was really just for him.
"Daddy, why do you spend so much time with Mr. Edgeworth?" she asked when he was putting her to bed that night.
"He's my good friend, Trucy, you know that."
"But... you do it all the time! It's just..."
"You're too young to understand some things, Trucy, and I think this might be one of them."
And that was her answer.
--
Mr. Edgeworth had been coming over for dinner every night for two weeks now. After the second week's dinner, though, things were a little different, because he stayed the night this time.
She watched him fall asleep on the couch, and then went to her room, where Daddy said goodnight to her before leaving. She fell asleep too, but was awoken in the middle of the night by weird sounds coming from his room.
When she got up the next morning, Mr. Edgeworth was still asleep on the couch, and he was still wearing the same clothes. He got up to have breakfast, though, and then he left. Apparently, he was the chief prosecutor now, and he had a lot of work to do.
"Who were you talking to last night, Daddy?" Trucy asked while finishing up her scrambled eggs.
Without missing a beat, he answered, "just a late night phone call, sweetheart, don't worry. I'm friends with people in a lot of different time zones."
"Oh, okay." He didn't seem to be lying, especially since he hadn't hesitated at all.
Mr. Edgeworth came over again for dinner, just as he usually did. He was acting a little different, though; he kept staring at Daddy, and the two of them kept sharing these weird little looks. Near the end of the meal, Daddy coughed to get her attention, and then spoke.
"So, Edgeworth is going to stay with us for a few days, Truce. How do you feel about that?"
"It sounds good," she replied carefully, turning those words over in her head. Why was Mr. Edgeworth staying over? Didn't he have a nicer place to live, since he was a chief prosecutor?
She didn't voice any of her concerns, though. Mr. Edgeworth was an adult, and as she'd learned, adults sometimes did weird things.
When Trucy was doing her schoolwork in bed after dinner, Daddy came by again, and sat down on the edge of her bed.
"Hey, sweetheart. Mind if I talk to you for a second?"
"No."
"I just... I know when I asked you if you were okay with Miles staying over, he was right there, and that might have pressured you to say something different. If you really have a problem with it, don't feel scared to tell me now. He can't hear us."
"I don't have a problem with it, Daddy. I can tell he makes you really happy." And Trucy meant that.
"I really don't want you to feel like I spend more time with him than you. You know, you're the best thing in my life, ever. You're the thing that keeps me going everyday, and Miles is just like... I don't know, the frosting on the cake."
Trucy nodded. "I get it. I love you, Daddy."
He crushed her in a hug, whispering an "I love you too, Truce, goodnight" and then left.
Trucy got ready for bed after that, and then went to sleep. She'd always been good at falling asleep quickly.
Unfortunately, she had a nightmare, the kind that you forget right when you wake up, but that you know was awful; there was choking darkness and a horrible, pervading, crushing loneliness. She woke up in a cold sweat, heart practically beating out of her chest.
She sat in bed for a long moment, trying to calm herself. She couldn't forget that terror, though, she needed her dad.
She slid out of her sheets, and stalked down the very short hallway, taking the familiar route to his room. It was a walk she could make with her eyes closed.
When she got to his door, she could see that it was closed, like usual. She slowly opened it, careful to not make the hinges squeak so much that he'd wake up.
And there, in his room, was Mr. Edgeworth, sleeping face illuminated by the bedside lamp. His bare arms were slung around Daddy's equally bare chest, holding him close.
All Trucy could do was stare. This really didn't make any sense at all.
She quickly exited the room, feeling more than a bit dizzy. She had to be dreaming, because that was a sight that just couldn't be real.
And when she woke up in the morning, the memory was so fuzzy that was convinced she hadn't actually seen what she'd seen.
And then she walked into the kitchen to find the two of them kissing.
Their bodies were pressed together; Mr. Edgeworth's hand cupped Daddy's cheek, and Daddy's arm was around his waist.
She gasped softly, hand going to her mouth. She knew she'd just walked into something she wasn't meant to see. And if she hadn't made that tiny little sound, she might have been able to sneak out, but both of them froze, breaking away from each other and then standing stock-still like deer in headlights.
"Oh, hey Truce!" Daddy squeaked.
"Wh-what...?"
--
A gay person was somebody who liked people of the same gender as them. A bisexual person was somebody who liked multiple genders. Mr. Edgeworth was gay, and Daddy was bisexual. They were in a relationship together.
"Phoenix, I cannot believe you didn't teach your daughter about sexuality." Mr. Edgeworth groaned.
"I just... I don't know. I was worried her old father taught her something, or people at her school said bad things... I don't know."
"Uh, Mr. Edgeworth?"
"Oh, yes?"
"Are you my dad now, too?"
"I—.... I guess I am."
"Can I just call you Edgeworth, then?"
"That would be nice, I suppose."
And it did feel nice. If he was her other dad, then she supposed she should call him that, but she didn't really know him super well yet, and she wasn't ready to call him something like "daddy". Edgeworth it was.
Life settled into a comfortable pattern, after this. Edgeworth temporarily moved into the office with them, helping them get it cleaned up and the likes. Now that he was around, there was suddenly a lot more food available, and it was better, too. Trucy didn't have to rely on free school lunch anymore, Daddy could pack it for her in the mornings before he went off to work.
Her friends noticed, and asked her about it. She didn't really know what to say; she could tell them about Edgeworth and the money he had, but for some reason, that felt wrong. She told her dad about that when she got home.
"I think you made a smart choice, sweetheart. Some people aren't very nice about this kind of thing, even in this day and age. If you want to let people know, I think it's okay, but you have to know that they'll be okay with it."
"Why are people not nice about it? What's wrong with you having a boyfriend?"
"I... I don't know, I really don't know why some people are so awful about it. A man dating a man, I mean."
"How do I know if they're not awful, though?"
"That's hard to tell, but usually, you can just... well, you can just tell. You're a little too young to get it, I think. You just learned about all of this, and you'll just have to wait."
And she did wait. She waited months, actually.
Over those months, a lot of things changed. Edgeworth went from being called Edgeworth to Miles, and then, one night over dinner—
"Can you pass the potatoes, Papa—"
Papa it was. Daddy and Papa.
Another thing changed, and that was where they lived. After much protesting from her Daddy (she had to differentiate between them in her mind now, which was new), they found themselves moved into a small, two bedroom, one bathroom apartment, one that was worlds better than living in the office. Then, Papa's temporary move turned into a mostly-permanent one, and he brought a few suitcases of stuff into it and started sleeping in Daddy's bed.
Trucy's birthday came and went. It was nice to celebrate it with her new family. Daddy had just a bit more energy to do things with her, and the gifts Papa got her were much nicer than anything they'd been able to afford. Obviously, Papa wasn't just good for money, but it was another perk of having him around.
She also learned what it looked like to be in love. She'd only ever really had movies to see what love was supposed to be like, and she'd thought that was it was, but seeing Daddy and Papa interact, she realized that it was a lot more than just kissing. While they did kiss a lot, they also did other things.
Sometimes it was just a concerned question, an umbrella handed over during a rainy day, or a fight over the dangers of Daddy riding his bike to work. Other times it was Papa buying Daddy a new suit, and them studying for something together. It was late night coffee brought over scattered textbooks and forms, a kiss on the forehead, a gentle goodnight. It was a soft, melty embrace, a longing gaze. It was offering to cook and clean. It was talking over Trucy's report card in the mornings, over orange juice and buttered toast.
Love was all of those things, and more. And it made Trucy so glad to see her Daddy really happy again, because of it. He'd been happy with her, but now he had so much more, with Papa.
Trucy couldn't imagine life without Papa, not anymore.
And then, a lot of things happened at once.
Daddy got his job back, that was the first thing. He went and retook his bar exam, and came home sobbing, a shiny golden pin in his hands. The second thing happened when Papa came home, holding a little velvet box. He proposed that night, right after Daddy had shown the two of them his badge and had explained that he could practice law again.
Trucy hadn't seen Papa cry before this, and she hadn't cried in what felt like forever, either. They all held each other and sobbed, badges, shimmering engament rings and all.
That night, Daddy and Papa left right at Trucy's bedtime after saying goodnight, saying that they were going to be home by tomorrow morning. She'd started taking health class in school at this point, and unfortunately, she knew what they were going to do.
How did it work with two men, anyway? Trucy didn't want to know; the thought made her shudder.
They were, of course, back the next morning, looking on top of the world. Daddy was the happiest Trucy had ever seen him, and for some reason, she felt like she was going to cry again for no reason. She suppressed the tears and ate breakfast, pushing past it. She knew if she had cried, she wouldn't have been sad while she did it, though.
It took a long time for them to get married. In that time, a lot more things changed. They moved into Papa's house, Trucy moved into sixth grade, Daddy took a lot of court cases, and his old friends that she'd never seen before started coming by, bringing gifts, congratulations, and joy. There was a woman named Maya, a man named Larry that was a bit obnoxious, a grumpy detective named Gumshoe... Trucy liked them all.
The wedding date finally came, and all of those friends were there. Trucy has to miss school, and that was mortifying. When she walked up to her teachers, extended release form in hand, and had to explain to every single one of them that she had two dads, she felt a kind of fear she hadn't known for a while.
She had never forgotten what Daddy had said about those who didn't approve of gay people. She still wasn't good at telling when somebody was "good" to talk to, either.
"Oh, Trucy, what brings you to my desk?" Her homeroom teacher, her English one, was the first hurdle to jump. She had one of those little signs outside of her door, the one that said that her classroom was a safe space for all, but Trucy couldn't deny the way her heartbeat thudded in her chest, or the way her hands shook.
"C-can you sign this?"
"An extended release form? Where are you going?"
"Well, uh... my dads are getting married in a few weeks..."
"Sounds like it'll be a ton of fun! I'll miss you, but I'm sure you'd rather be off doing this than learning in here."
She just signed the form, and didn't ask any questions. It was really that easy.
It was the same for all the rest of her teachers, too. Some of them commented on it, saying something like "I didn't know you had two dads, Trucy", but nobody was mean about it. Nobody said any of the mean or horrible things about her parents that she thought they would.
And it felt good, to see people being accepting and kind. Something about this, knowing that if she was gay or bisexual like Papa or Daddy, all these people would still treat her the same...
It was the wedding, now. It was three days of perfection, of endless happiness and cake and laughter. Of tears over her parent's wedding vows and blooming flowers. And at the end of it, Trucy felt whole, like something that had been missing in her life was finally replaced.
Life was good, great, no, fantastic. There were rough spots, and arguments, because that was how life went, but there was so much goodness in there too that anything bad really meant nothing in the end. There was pain and loss, but usually, those things healed with time. Sometimes, to fix those things, you needed something really big to happen, like Daddy getting his badge back and being able to practice law again. Other times it took a lot of little moments of healing, like all of Daddy's dates with Papa. No matter how long the healing took, though, it always happened.
Trucy came out to her parents in seventh grade, sobbing on the couch as she explained that she liked girls in a different way that wasn't really a straight way. She didn't even know why she cried; she knew Daddy and Papa wouldn't have a problem with it. It just felt really important to her.
After she told them, the three of them hung a big, bright pride flag on her wall. Daddy hit his finger with a hammer, which was distressing until Papa laughed at him and the flag fell on his head.
And the three of them stood, looking at their handiwork, and Trucy realized that maybe bandaids could fix bullet holes.