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“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Phoenix yelled over the demanding knocking at his front door as he ran to open it.
Miles Edgeworth stood at the doorstep, collar pulled up against the wind and glowering at his host. “It’s cold, Wright. You were expecting my visit, so why did it take you so long to answer the door?” Edgeworth huffily moved past Phoenix into the warmth of the apartment.
“Sorry, I was looking for some paperwork under my desk and I hit my head when you started knocking, so it took me a second to get to the door,” Phoenix explained sheepishly, rubbing the sore spot on his head as he shoved the door shut.
Edgeworth was unwinding his scarf and undoing the buttons of his red peacoat. “Why was the paperwork under your desk?” he asked with a long-suffering sigh. “Do you not own a filing cabinet?”
Phoenix reached out to take Edgeworth’s coat and hang it in the hall closet. His own jackets usually got unceremoniously thrown aside when he got home, but Phoenix had made room after Edgeworth’s first visit to the apartment (“Wright, where do you hang your coats?” “Uh. I usually just toss them on the couch, haha.” “....Surely this doesn’t include your suit jacket? Where do you hang that?” “Um.”) “Well I do have a filing cabinet, but I was looking over this file late last night and I dropped it on the floor when I fell asleep. I didn’t bother picking it up until I went looking for it again today.”
Rubbing his hands together to warm them up, Edgeworth rolled his eyes. “Of course, I should have assumed you would be preparing for our meeting at the last minute.”
“Hey, it just means it’s all fresh in my brain!” Phoenix replied brightly, gesturing to the couch. “Take a load off. Want anything to drink? I’ve got hot chocolate mix, or I think the tea you brought last time is still in the pantry. I’ve got beer and some sodas, too.”
“Tea would be wonderful, thank you,” Edgeworth sat primly onto the sofa. “And I’ll take it with–”
“Two spoons of sugar, yeah yeah, I know,” Phoenix interrupted with a smile. “Gimme one sec, I’ll be right back.”
Edgeworth allowed himself a small smile as Phoenix disappeared to the kitchen. The two of them had begun visiting each others’ homes in the evenings fairly often to discuss tough cases, and they were starting to fall into a kind of comfortable rhythm. Edgeworth had even been expecting Phoenix to take some time answering the door, as he usually did; he had only complained this time because of the weather.
He looked idly through the files for a few minutes until Phoenix returned with a cup of tea in one hand and a mug of what appeared to be mostly whipped cream in the other. “Let me know if you want any hot chocolate later. I’ve even got candy canes!” Phoenix lifted his mug, wiggling his eyebrows persuasively.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Edgeworth said, eyeing the mountain of whipped cream in Phoenix’s cup apprehensively. “This tea will be plenty for now, thank you.”
“Suit yourself,” Phoenix said with a shrug. “Okay, I’m gonna give this a second to cool. In the meantime, let’s get into it. So you actually might remember the defendant in this case, she’s been on the stand as a witness before in one of our trials…” He launched into an explanation, and Edgeworth listened attentively, sipping his tea and savoring the warmth on his cold hands.
“...So, I was thinking the next step should probably be to go talk to her dog’s groomer, since he may have seen something when she dropped the dog off earlier that day,” Phoenix concluded. “What do you think?” He picked up his mug and took a sip, looking expectantly at Edgeworth.
“That’s certainly not a bad course of action. I would also suggest talking to the receptionist and confirming that your client had a scheduled appointment. If it was a walk-in, the prosecution could argue that it was simply a last-ditch attempt to get the dog off her hands before committing the robbery,” Edgeworth explained.
Phoenix set his mug down and grinned. “See, this is why I love when you aren’t prosecuting my cases - you walk me through all that prosecutor logic and I get a headstart on planning my rebuttal. Wait, what are you looking at?”
Phoenix’s confused look was made more comical by the large smear of whipped cream his generously topped drink had left on his upper lip. Edgeworth had attempted to keep his expression neutral, but evidently had given himself away. “I apologize, it’s more difficult than usual to take you seriously while you are sporting a whipped-cream mustache,” Edgeworth replied, the corner of his mouth turning up in something close to a smile.
“Oh, shit…” Phoenix frowned and wiped his mouth. “Wait, what do you mean more difficult than usual?” He had an expression of mock-insult on his face, but the gleam in his eyes made it clear that he didn’t mind the teasing. “Anyway, maybe now that I’ve cleaned up you can keep your eyes off me and focus on my questions,” he quipped. “Otherwise this might take all night.”
Edgeworth took another sip of tea. “Indeed, and I don’t want to be stuck spending the night on your couch should a “freak snowstorm” blow in like the reporters were joking this morning.” There was the faintest hint of a blush on his cheeks, perhaps a leftover from the cold wind earlier.
“Pfft, yeah right. We live in L.A., Edgeworth, it’s not gonna snow.”
They spent the next few hours discussing the case, Phoenix occasionally ducking into the other room to find forgotten files and notes. During one of Phoenix’s longer searches, Edgeworth stood up to stretch his legs. He walked to the window and looked through the blinds.
For a moment, he was breathless with wonder. The world outside was covered in soft white, painting a strange picture against the palm trees on the street, and snowflakes were still falling. He was still standing there, peering between the slats of the blinds, when Phoenix returned.
“Found it!” he announced. “This one was actually in the filing cabinet, which was the last place I looked…” he trailed off, noticing Edgeworth’s location. “Is everything okay?”
The spell broken, Edgeworth turned to Phoenix, gesturing helplessly at the window.
Phoenix stepped up to the window, peering through the blinds that Edgeworth still held open. “Holy shit, is that actually snow?” Phoenix exclaimed. “Are you kidding me?” He opened the front door for a moment, confirming that his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him before abruptly shutting it again. “Oh, it’s cold!” He shivered. “I guess we should wrap it up so you can get home, huh? Oh shit, I forgot - how far away did you have to park?”
“I used a cab today, since your parking situation is abysmal. No matter, I’ll just arrange a pickup after we finish here. I’m in no particular rush. I imagine that if I wait, the snow will melt. ” Edgeworth said.
“Yeah, stay in here where it’s warm as long as possible, geez… Ugh, I hate snow, I live here because it’s not supposed to snow…” Phoenix grumbled, throwing one more glance out the window. “I’m gonna go make another hot chocolate. Can I tempt you this time?”
“I suppose I will indulge.”
As the night wore on, the two of them talked less and less about the case, and their conversation meandered into idle chatter. Eventually, Edgeworth looked at his watch. “I really ought to be going,” he sighed.
“Aw, we were just starting to have fun!” Phoenix teased. “Why don’t you stay a bit longer in here where it’s warm?”
Frowning, Edgworth stood. “No, I should start making my arrangements now so I’m not waiting all night.” He lifted his phone to his ear and walked to the window. While the phone rang, he peered through the blinds aimlessly. Phoenix joined him, curious to see if the snow had melted.
It had not. In fact, it looked like it had started to come down faster now, and the wind was blowing the flakes around in entrancing swirls. Phoenix looked away from the storm just in time to see Edgeworth’s frown deepen slightly before hanging up.
“It put me in a queue. I should have called earlier. I’ll just call another company…” Edgeworth explained, lifting the phone to his ear again. Phoenix nodded and looked back out the window briefly before heading back to the couch to finish off his latest mug of hot chocolate.
With a huff, Edgeworth hung up again. “Another queue. Unbelievable.”
“I mean, it’s getting late, you know? Everyone’s trying to catch a ride home so they don’t have to drive or walk. Give it a minute, you’ll get ahold of someone.” Phoenix tried to sound confident. “Besides, you can always stay the night if you want!” he gave Edgeworth a cheeky grin and was rewarded with an eyeroll as Edgeworth turned back to the window, calling another number.
Edgeworth managed to get a quick conversation with this call, but quickly hung up with a sour look. “That one said it would be over an hour before they could get here. This is becoming absurd.”
“I’m serious, you really can stay the night if you can’t get anyone soon. Better to crash here than stay up late waiting for a ride home,” Phoenix suggested.
“Yes, I would love for your neighbors to see me walking out of your apartment tomorrow morning wearing the same clothes I arrived in. That is, of course, the appearance I wish to maintain as a top prosecutor,” Edgeworth scoffed.
“Oh come on, anyone with a brain would know you got stuck here because of the snow. Anyway, my neighbors wouldn’t notice who comes and goes. I mean, not that anybody besides me does come and go - nevermind.” Phoenix cursed himself internally. “Really, I don’t mind you staying the night, my couch even pulls out–”
"The answer is no, Wright," Edgeworth cut in icily, furiously tapping and scrolling on his phone as he looked for another company to call.
Phoenix nodded meekly and began putting away the papers scattered across the table. After a few minutes of terse silence, Edgeworth abruptly stood and moved to the door.
"At this point, I think my luck will be better hailing a cab from the street itself. I will be taking my leave." Edgeworth buttoned his coat to the neck and opened the door, and the icy wind sent a chill through Phoenix. Before closing the door behind him, Edgeworth paused and looked over his shoulder. "Good evening, Wright."
The door shut before Phoenix could reply. "...Yeah, yeah, g’night to you too, Miles," he muttered. He peered out the blinds, just in time to glimpse Edgeworth turn the corner and pass out of view. A few minutes later, he pulled out his phone to send a text: lmk when u get home so i kno u didnt freeze 2 death.
Twenty minutes passed while Phoenix finished cleaning up his living room and putting files away. Phoenix knew Edgeworth only lived about 15 minutes away, but it probably took a while to hail a cab, so maybe it was just taking a bit longer than usual to get home, he reasoned. He took the mugs into the kitchen and started doing dishes.
Ten minutes later, with the dishes done, Phoenix sent another text: did u get home? He flopped onto the couch and turned on the TV. The news channel was reporting the weather, and it looked like the city was expected to get over an inch of snow - not worth getting worked up about except for the fact that the city was completely unprepared for any amount of snow, and the roads likely wouldn’t be cleared until the snow melted in the morning sun. Between the unexpected weather and the holiday traffic, the reporter said, conditions were bad enough that several car accidents had already occurred that evening.
Phoenix chewed the inside of his lip distractedly. It had been over 40 minutes since Edgeworth had left, at this point, plenty of time to hail a cab and get home, but he hadn’t gotten a reply. He was considering calling, though it would further irritate his friend, just to make sure Edgeworth’s cab wasn’t one of the accidents. Weighing his options, he decided to risk being overbearing. He pulled up Edgeworth’s contact in his phone and called.
Without ringing, the voicemail message began to play. “You’ve reached the phone of Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth. If you are a client, please call my office number. Otherwise, please leave a message and I will get back to you at my earliest convenience…” Before the message started recording, Phoenix hung up. He waited for a few seconds and called again. Once again, he was sent straight to Edgeworth’s voicemail. Okay, he thought, so his phone is off. It’s late, maybe the battery just died and he hasn’t been able to charge it yet. Or maybe I just pissed him off too much earlier and he doesn’t want to talk to me. Or maybe he was in an accident and his phone got destroyed and he’s bleeding out on the highway in the snow…
The beginnings of his anxiety spiral were interrupted by a loud, urgent knocking at the door. Alarmed, Phoenix sprang to open it.
Edgeworth stood in front of him, a bit hunched from the cold and with his hands tucked into his armpits. It looked like half of his coat was damp, and his scarf was wrapped tightly around the lower portion of his face.
“Oh my god, Miles, I was worried! What the hell happened? Are you okay?” he exclaimed, ushering Edgeworth into the apartment.
Edgeworth unwrapped his scarf, revealing a scowl. “I was struggling to hail a cab, and in my impatience, I slipped in the snow. In doing so, I landed on my hip, soaked the side of my coat, and dropped my phone, which now won’t turn on.” He shrugged the damp jacket off and shivered slightly. “I assume you don’t have a heater of any kind to lay this on to dry?”
Phoenix pulled himself out of his shock and took the coat, replying, “No, but I can hang it over a chair or throw it in the dryer… Are you okay? Did you get hurt when you fell?”
The damp had soaked through the coat to Edgeworth’s shirt and pants, which he was now studying, dismayed. “I’m just bruised, Wright, it’s nothing to concern yourself with. I’m currently more concerned about my arrangements for the evening.”
“The news is saying that the roads aren’t going to be cleared tonight, and there’s been a ton of accidents, so I really don’t think it’s going to be easy to get a cab… You can use my phone if you want to try calling someone else, though?” he offered, uncertain. “In the meantime, can I offer you something dry to wear? You look, uh, wet.”
Suppressing another shiver, Edgeworth nodded. “I would appreciate that, thank you.”
Phoenix pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to his friend, yelping when their hands brushed. “God, your hands are like ice! Okay, give me like two seconds and I’ll be back with something for you to change into.”
He dug his warmest sweatshirt and sweatpants out of the closet and grabbed some fuzzy socks, too. When he returned to the living room, Edgeworth was still standing, though he had set the phone down on the coffee table.
Seeing that Phoenix had returned, Edgeworth sighed irritably. “I wasn’t able to get through to anyone.”
Phoenix held the bundle of clothes out for Edgeworth. “You can try again after you get out of your wet clothes. I’ll go make you something warm to drink. Tea or hot chocolate?”
“Tea, please.”
A few minutes later, Edgeworth shuffled back into the living room. Phoenix, still making the tea, caught a glimpse from the kitchen of Edgeworth in the grey sweatsuit and fuzzy polar bear socks. He turned back to the steeping tea, hiding a smile. When he came back to the living room with a steaming mug, Edgeworth was wrapped in the blanket Phoenix kept on the couch. He accepted the drink with a grateful nod.
“So… the offer still stands, you’re welcome to stay the night,” Phoenix said nervously, “if you want. Otherwise we can keep calling for a cab.”
Edgeworth rubbed wearily at the bridge of his nose. “At this point, I don’t think I have much of a choice. I will take you up on your offer.”
Reluctantly, Phoenix replied, “Sorry you got stuck here tonight, I know you didn’t want to stay.”
Edgeworth frowned. “Wright, I truly appreciate that you are making room for me. I simply… prefer the comforts of my own home, when available.”
Phoenix settled onto the couch next to Edgeworth. “Well, then I guess you’re ‘snowed in’ with me,” he joked. “So is there anything I can do to help you feel more comfortable while you’re here?”
The shoulders Edgeworth had been hunching relaxed somewhat, and his expression softened, almost imperceptibly. “No, but thank you. I really am touched by your offer, and I apologize for my irritability earlier. I will be perfectly fine.”
Phoenix smiled. “You’re welcome here anytime. Now get up, I’ll open the sofa bed for you.” After a quick search for some sheets, Phoenix set up the bed. Edgeworth was just settling back onto it when a buzz sounded from somewhere else in the apartment.
“Oh, right, hang on!” Phoenix said, scampering down the hall. He came back with a large, fluffy blanket. “I tossed this into the dryer while you were changing so it would be nice and warm for you.” He dumped it onto Edgeworth’s lap.
Edgeworth ran a hand over the blanket briefly before looking up at Phoenix. “Thank you,” he said softly.
“Anytime, Miles. I’m glad you made it back tonight,” Phoenix gently replied.
There was a beat of silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Finally, Phoenix broke it. “Well, I’ll let you get to bed. If you need anything, the kitchen is all yours, and you know where the bathroom is. You can wake me up if you need to, like if you need my phone or whatever…” He trailed off.
Finally looking at ease, Edgeworth offered a small smile. “Thank you,” he said simply.
“Well, then, good night, Miles,” Phoenix said awkwardly, heading for the hallway.
“....good night, Phoenix.”
Edgeworth turned off the light and burrowed under the deliciously warm blanket, savoring the heat as it warmed his still-cold hands. He fell asleep quickly, oddly comfortable despite the night’s events. Down the hall, Phoenix lay awake a while longer, feeling unusually happy about how it had all played out.