Work Text:
As Miles stared up at the twelve flights of winding stairs and the quiet air of desperation and panic slowly thickened around him, the only coherent thought that crossed his mind was how he was most definitely going to be late to the office.
He forced himself to take a deep breath and allowed himself to indulge in letting out a loud noise of extreme frustration. How could Miles not have seen that climbing twelve flight stairs with a broken leg and crutches might be a concern? Moving in general, even on flat surfaces, was still somewhat challenging; it had been a few days since he was released from the hospital and designated to crutches and he still hadn’t quite gotten the hang of it -which itself was ridiculous, to say the least. This whole situation was utterly ridiculous; one bad stroke of luck after another and he somehow managed to find himself in a locked stairwell during an earthquake where he then passed out, thus falling down a multitude of stairs and breaking the tibia in his left leg.
The universe truly was having a laugh at his expense.
At least the stairwell was empty and only he was going to be party to the further loss of dignity.
He glanced up once again before letting his head drop and giving a very, very tired sigh. It was at that moment that he was grateful for his foresight to leave his home slightly earlier than usual. Miles adjusted the straps of the backpack he had grabbed when forgoing the briefcase that were painfully digging into his shoulders. Not only did it look unprofessional, but the bag also was uncomfortable and was most certainly going to put unnecessary strain on his back; how Wright could use one all the time was beyond him. After the adjustment, he moved towards the edge of the stairs, leaning on the handrail on the right as he tucked both crutches under his left arm like the nurse had shown him and used both sides of support to push himself up and onto the first step before pulling the crutches up to be on the same level as him.
One step down, a hundred and thirteen more to go.
Fantastic.
Eventually, time passed and he made it to the third floor without incident. He had found a productive rhythm of movement and had zoned out from the world around him, all his attention focused on keeping himself moving, so he was quite reasonably startled when a voice appearing out of nowhere came from behind him.
“Miles-?”
He jerked around to face the voice behind himself and- oh of course Wright was here. He certainly had a knack for showing up at the time Miles wanted to see him least.
“Wright.” He said curtly, doing his best to not look more foolish as he attempted to turn around fully on the thin step and not lose his balance. “It's interesting to see you here, seeing as this is the prosecutor’s office and last I checked you didn’t have any standing appointment.” Not that he ever did. Wright’s idea of an appointment was barging into his office unannounced, yelling about some crazy theory about his newest case. The first few times it had been…. unsettling but Miles had grown to enjoy the surprise visits, even looking forward to them whenever he heard Wright had picked up another case- not that he would ever admit it to anyone.
Phoenix had the decency to look a little chagrined at his comment, rubbing the back of his neck as the usual dopey, slightly embarrassed grin crossed his face- a habit he’d had since elementary school. Miles pointedly ignored the little flutter in his chest as he stared down at Wright.
“I wanted to talk to you about the Amin Louve case. Me and Athena-”
“Athena and I, Wright-”
Phoenix didn’t bother to suppress the eye roll.
“Athena and I went back to the crime scene and we found some new evidence that I know is important but I can’t figure out why so I wanted to get your opinion on it. But that's not important,” He dismissed with a wave of his hand. “What happened to you?” Wright asked with a sudden pointing of his finger, his voice taking the same tone he used during cross-examinations.
Miles gave him a flat, annoyed look in an attempt to draw away attention from the blush of embarrassment crawling up his face. “I’m wearing a cast on my leg and using crutches, what do you think happened? Your astute power of deduction on the fritz, Wright?”
“I was asking more about the cause and you know it. Have you really been out of court so long that you can’t remember how to answer simple questions anymore?” Wright teased, a smug smirk on his face before letting the concern soften his features. “But seriously, are you okay?”
His tone was so earnest and compassionate that Edgeworth had to take a moment to remember how to breathe.
Miles cleared his throat. “I appreciate the concern but I’m fine, really.” Miles waved his left hand vaguely. “It was just a silly accident.”
For a moment, Miles was baffled by the sudden sharp look on Wright’s face before remembering the magatama Phoenix always carried with him. From his reaction, Miles wondered just how many of those locks had appeared at his words.
“Really?” Phoenix asked, giving a raised eyebrow. “It must have been bad to do that type of damage,” He said, glancing towards the cast. Despite what Phoenix may have thought, he was most certainly not being subtle and Miles narrowed his eyes at the other man.
“It was nothing, not that it's any of your business,” He snapped defensively before being almost immediately overwhelmed by a feeling of guilt. Miles was frustrated at himself and the situation, not Wright, and Wright didn’t deserve to be at the receiving end of his anger. Before he could apologize, however, Phoenix raised his hands up in a gesture of surrender.
“You’re right, it's not and I won’t push. I’m just…” A flush ran up his cheeks and he rubbed the back of his neck. “I want to make sure you’re okay. You’re my friend and I care about you.”
Miles’ heart twinged-the guilt multiplying tenfold in his chest- and he looked away, letting out a deep sigh of exhaustion. “I know, and I apologize for my tone. I’m grateful to have you as a friend and I appreciate your concern; these last few weeks have just been… very trying.” And then he doesn’t allow the words to get caught up in his thoughts and anxieties as he says, “however, I feel that is a conversation that would be much better held in my office then the building stairwell, don’t you?”
Miles looked away, letting his bangs drop in front of his face. ‘We have been loitering here for far too long and I can provide an explanation along with some insight on the Louve case if you, erm, find that agreeable?”
There was a second of sheer silence and Miles’s brain decided to fill it in with thoughts of panic: Why on Earth did I just say that? I’m being too forward, Wright will most certainly refuse and-
“That sounds good to me,” Phoenix said with a soft smile on his face. “And your couch does sound much more comfortable than continuing to stand here.”
He couldn’t stop his lips from quirking up into a small smile as he said, “Indeed.” He moved to turn around but Phoenix caught his arm. “What are you doing? We’re wasting more time just standing here.”
A frown flickered over Phoenix’s expression.“Wait, you’re not seriously going to climb nine more flights of stairs on crutches are you?”
Miles blinked. “Er, yes? There's not much alternative, Wright.”
This time it was Phoenix that blushed as he said, “Actually, well-” And then before Miles could even wonder about what Wright was planning, an arm was suddenly pressed against his lower back under the backpack and the other was was hooked under his legs and Miles let out a yelp of panic as he was suddenly being lifted off the ground.
It took a moment to remember how to breathe as he was pressed against Phoenix’s chest in a bridal carry.
Instead of protesting the indignity of being carried like a child when he could walk just fine , his traitorous thoughts decided to focus on how warm it was in Phoenix's arms; how Miles could feel the muscles of his arms through the blue fabric of the suit; how-
“P-Phoenix Wright, put me down this instant!” He finally forced himself to say, although it came out less commanding and more flustered than he would like.
“I’m not about to let you take the stairs with a broken leg, Edgeworth,” Wright said with a laugh that rumbled in his chest.
“I am a grown man, you can’t-!”
“I can and I will,” He smiled, looking down at Miles who was hoping that Phoenix couldn’t feel his sudden increasing heart rate. “Now, pick your crutches up so they’re not dragging.”
“Ngh.” Miles let out a sigh of resignation. “Don’t come complaining to me when your back pain flares up again because you strained yourself. I will do nothing but laugh out your suffering.”
“I would expect nothing less,” he said as he looked down at Edgeworth with a smile that simply sucked the breath out of his lungs. Then, without anymore pause, Phoenix started moving upwards and the two fell into silence. He was completely tense in Wrights’s arms, every muscle in his body was stiff but after two flights Miles managed to relax, being lulled into a state of calm as he felt Phoenix's steady heartbeat against him.
It was… nice, peaceful almost and the silence settled into something more comfortable, only accompanied by the sound of Phoenix’s increased breathing as they approached the 12th floor. Miles was actually slightly disappointed as Wright stepped onto the space in front of the door that led to the prosecutor’s offices.
“See, how difficult was that?” Phoenix asked with a huff of air as he continued to walk to the door with no indication to stop. “Nine flights, no problem.”
Fully prepared to be set down and walk down to his office, Miles frowned and asked, “Ah, what are you doing?”
“What kind of person would I be if I didn’t take you all the way to your office?” Miles’ eyes went wide.
“Erm, no thank you. That’s not necessary you can just put me down right- Wright!” He hissed as Phoenix ignored him.and pushed the door open with his back; careful not to let Miles’ or his broken leg hit the doorframe. “Every prosecutor is here right now, please put me down before someone sees-”
Thankfully the hallways were empty at the moment but who knew how long that would last.
“Wright, I appreciate your help but please -”
“We’re almost there,” and it wasn’t even a few more seconds before they reached the door to Miles’ office. “Look we made it and none of your prosecutors even-” The words died in his mouth as Pheonix pushed open the door and stepped into the office, the gaze of every public prosecutor under Edgeworth’s jurisdiction falling onto the pair.
Oh, god, he had scheduled a meeting today, hadn’t he? How on earth had Miles managed to forget something as important as that? ‘Blackquill, Sebastian and Gavin all stared at the two of them, all three at a loss for words just as Miles was. At least fate had been kinder and Winston Payne had taken a day off.
“Erm-” Phoenix slightly raised up Miles in his arms. “Delivery?”
“Put me down, Wright,” Miles’ finally said in a cool, commanding tone that was in stark to contrast to the fact that he was blushing bright red. Phoenix did, sheepishly setting the other man down. He slipped into the role of chief processor easily, moving towards the desk calmly, and Phoenix felt extremely out of place as he spoke. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting. In an attempt to not waste any more time, I’ll try to keep this as short as possible.”
Phoenix took that as his cue to go, trying to shake off the disappointment when Miles spoke again. “Wright,” He said, catching Phoenix’s attention who turned back to look a the other man. “Thank you for the assistance, it was… appreciated. And, erm, I’ll be free around noon if you would still like to discuss the Louve case?”
“Yeah.” Phoenix couldn’t stop a grin from spreading over his face. “Thanks, Edgeworth.”
Miles’ involuntarily felt the corner of his mouth quirk up as he said “It is no problem, Wright. I look forward to it.” And the moment, as quick as it came, was gone and Edgeworth cleared his throat, turning his attention to the three prosecutors who had done nothing but watch the exchange awkwardly. “Now-”
Phoenix slipped out as Miles started talking, the grin not leaving his face as he practically bounced down the hallway and pulled out his phone. It didn’t dial twice before it was picked up.
“Maya!” He cheered. “You’ll never guess what just happened-”