Work Text:
on the morning of november the fourteenth, 2018, manfred von karma did not notice anything amiss.
he walked downstairs after getting ready for his day, and took his place at the breakfast table, as usual. franziska von karma and miles were already there, as usual.
manfred von karma took a bite of his eggs, as usual.
"today, i think, i will go for a walk," he said, casually. he did not see franziska von karma and miles exchange excited glances at this. he was focused on keeping the eggs on the fork, as usual.
"how long will this walk take?" inquired franziska von karma, carefully.
manfred von karma looked up, his brows furrowing in thought. "oh, perhaps... twenty minutes, at most," he replied.
then he went back to focusing on his eggs, missing franziska von karma and miles sharing a worried look.
"are you sure you do not want to take a bit longer?" franziska von karma said. "you could see more sights that way."
manfred von karma frowned.
"no, i think i will return quickly. i have work to do."
this time, manfred von karma did see franziska von karma and miles look at each other in frustration. it seemed evident that franziska von karma had stepped on miles' foot or kicked miles under the table, and they seemed to be carrying on an extensive, yet fleeting, conversation with their eyebrows.
miles turned to look at manfred von karma.
"but think of all the trees that you would miss, if you did not take your time walking," miles said, clearly taking pains to appear enthusiastic about trees.
manfred von karma was starting to become quite suspicious.
"wait a second," he said. "you are not trying to set me up on another date with gregory edgeworth, are you?"
"what? no, no--" franziska von karma started. then, her face transformed entirely, it becoming very apparent that she was experiencing an epiphany. there may well have been a lightbulb appearing over her head, and indeed, her hair seemed to be suddenly shinier than usual.
a wide smile crept onto franziska von karma's face, and she kicked miles under the table again.
"ow," said miles. franziska von karma ignored this.
"yes! yes, you have done it, papa," she exclaimed. "you have figured it out. that is exactly what we were doing."
"oh," said manfred von karma.
"well?" said franziska von karma.
"'well' what," said manfred von karma.
"well, would you like to go?" said franziska von karma.
manfred von karma considered this. he had not planned on going on another date with gregory edgeworth for at least a week. they had been on exactly four, since the first one, and all of them had been very nice. but did he really want to disrupt his schedule?
he continued to puzzle over this. of course, he would not mind engaging in casually romantic activities with gregory edgeworth. but it was so early in the morning! but, he had been missing gregory edgeworth recently... but he had work to do. but...
franziska von karma and miles waited with bated breath as manfred von karma mumbled to himself. then, at last, he looked up. had he decided?
"does gregory edgeworth actually wish to go on a date with me right now," said manfred von karma.
"oh," said franziska von karma.
at that moment, miles seemed to experience a more condensed version of the epiphany that franziska von karma had just had.
"mx. von karma, why don't you just take your walk," miles said. "my father will be with you very shortly."
at this point, manfred von karma was tired of all this. he decided to just go with whatever franziska von karma and miles were planning.
"okay," he said.
he took off, eventually making his way to a nearby park. he settled on a bench, crossing his legs and closing his eyes.
meanwhile, at the von karma house, miles was trying desperately to convince gregory edgeworth to play along and take manfred von karma on a date, via cell phone conversation.
"please, father," said miles. "we need to distract him for a few hours."
"i know, miles," responded gregory edgeworth. "but i do not like the idea of deceiving him."
"we have to deceive him, or we will never get him to leave the house," miles said, exasperatedly.
"yes, that may be true. but is there not some other way? he may take it the wrong way, and think that i was only doing it to help you in your plan, as opposed to going because i genuinely love him and appreciate having a chance to spend some time with him."
miles sighed.
"he will not think that. he will be so surprised when we reveal what we have been planning that he will probably not be thinking anything at all," miles said.
"...are you sure," said gregory edgeworth.
"yes."
"then i suppose i will do it," he replied.
manfred von karma had waited on the bench for around an hour. in fact, he had fallen asleep. when gregory edgeworth found him, he was curled up sideways, legs hanging off the edge.
gregory edgeworth had to suppress a smile. manfred von karma looked only slightly less stern when sleeping. it was almost comical.
he gently shook manfred von karma's shoulder. "manfred," he said softly.
"mmmghrhgh," said manfred von karma.
gregory edgeworth did smile, this time. "i am here to take you on our date," he said.
manfred von karma looked confused for a few seconds, then remembered.
"oh. we are doing that," said manfred von karma.
"yes. i have parked a while away, so we will have to walk," said gregory edgeworth.
"very well. let us walk," manfred von karma said.
meanwhile, back at the ranch, miles was trying desperately to hang up streamers.
"you are not putting them high enough," said franziska von karma.
"what do you suppose i should do, then? grow taller?" replied miles, straining to reach higher on the wall.
"stand on your tiptoes," said franziska von karma.
"if i do that, i may fall," said miles.
"well, that is a risk you just have to take to achieve perfection," said franziska von karma.
"why don't you do it yourself, then!" exclaimed miles, absolutely not going onto miles' tiptoes even a little bit.
"pish posh. i am busy decorating this cake. it requires my absolute concentration."
"yet you find some way to break that concentration to talk about my shortcomings," miles pointed out.
franziska considered this for a second. "yes," she responded.
manfred von karma and gregory edgeworth were busy having lunch at a respectable establishment. gregory edgeworth was taking small bites of his food, like the polite gentleman he was. manfred von karma was taking even smaller bites of his food, in some unconscious effort to upstage gregory edgeworth, since he could not bring himself to do so in any large way anymore.
"i think i would like to have dessert. this blueberry pie looks very good," said gregory edgeworth.
"if you are, i suppose i will as well," said manfred von karma. "i think i will have a sundae. sundaes are always very nice."
"that sounds fantastic. i think this is a nice outing. are you having a good time?" asked gregory edgeworth.
"i believe i am," said manfred von karma. "though any outing with you is a good outing."
gregory edgeworth beamed.
the cake was fully decorated, and streamers hung all around the house. it had taken an especially long time for the streamers, due to the sheer enormity of the von karma household, but miles had opted to hang them in just a few key locations that manfred von karma was sure to visit during his birthday. that meant no streamers in the library. which would have been difficult, as some of the bookshelves required ladders of their own to reach the tops.
manfred von karma usually kept the place spotless, but franziska von karma had checked everything over again, just to be sure. she had set the table and placed the cake in the very center, with tall candles surrounding it. miles had placed some purple balloons in the entrance hall, as well as in the dining room.
now was the trouble with presents. the siblings had not wanted to place them in a location that was immediately visible, as that might ruin part of the surprise. so they needed to find some place to hide them.
"how about in the pantry?" suggested miles.
"absolutely not," said franziska von karma.
"what is wrong with the pantry," said miles.
"it is full of food," said franziska von karma. "food might get on the presents, and soil them. then everything will be ruined."
"i highly doubt that any food will get on the presents if we place them somewhere clean," said miles.
"no," said franziska von karma.
"then where do you suggest we put them," miles said.
franziska grinned. "we will put them... under the table."
"but that seems even less clean than if we put them in the pantry," said a confused miles.
"tsk, tsk, tsk," said franziska von karma, wagging her finger. "we will put a rug under the table. then we will place the presents on top of the rug. then, during the party, we will produce them, to the delight of all who were previously unaware of the secret location of the gifts."
"if you had this plan all along, then why did you not just state it to begin with," said miles.
"because i have a flair for the dramatic," said franziska von karma. "now come. we must hide the presents before my papa returns."
franziska von karma's papa was currently sitting in gregory edgeworth's car, next to gregory edgeworth. the car was parked in a parking lot.
"gregory, why are we parked in a parking lot, and not going home," asked manfred von karma.
"because i thought that we should take some time to just relax and enjoy each other's company," said gregory edgeworth.
"oh," said manfred von karma.
"i enjoy your company. do you enjoy my company?" said gregory edgeworth.
"i do enjoy your company, and i am glad that you enjoy my company," manfred von karma said.
gregory edgeworth smiled again. he was smiling a lot, recently.
he reached an arm out and took manfred von karma's hand.
"you are fantastic, and wonderful, and i am so glad that i have had the chance to get to know you," said gregory edgeworth. "i can't believe that i ever held a negative opinion of you, and i am sorry that i did. but now that we are better acquainted, i think that you are one of the best individuals i have ever met. i love everything about you, even the things that make me frustrated sometimes, and i would not change anything if i could. you are just amazing."
gregory edgeworth's smile widened, and he squeezed the hand he was holding.
"any time that i spend with you makes me indescribably happy."
"gbbbvhhbbhhh," said manfred von karma.
"i love you, too," said gregory edgeworth.
then he leaned over and kissed manfred von karma.
on the lips and everything.
they were still kissing when, a few minutes later, gregory edgeworth's phone rang.
gregory edgeworth apologized profusely as he took the phone out of his pocket. manfred von karma muttered "it's fine," and looked out the window as though he was not very disappointed. gregory edgeworth pressed the "answer" button on the phone and held it to his ear.
"it is time," came the voice of miles, through the phone.
gregory edgeworth nodded, even though miles could not see him, because he was on the phone. then he hung up. this would seem very rude in hindsight, because gregory edgeworth had not considered the fact that people cannot see each other during voice-only calls, and miles did not receive that silent message of affirmation, and simply experienced gregory edgeworth hanging up after saying the words "it is time". it was not that bad of a mistake, and miles probably thought nothing of it. but gregory edgeworth was nothing if not irritatingly worried over politeness.
right now, though, gregory edgeworth turned to manfred von karma.
"we are going home now," said gregory edgeworth.
"what. why," said manfred von karma. he was still trying to be casual about the fact that his kissing had just been interrupted by a phone.
"i cannot tell you why. but i promise that we will resume our activities at a later time," said gregory edgeworth.
manfred von karma crossed his arms. "fine," he said.
when the two of them walked through the front door of the house, there was no sudden leaping-out of a person from behind the door. nor was there a burst of confetti and streamers. neither of those things are very nice to do, as they may startle the birthday-haver, and make the entire experience a negative one. instead, franziska von karma stood in the hallway, holding a shiny blue party hat.
"happy birthday, papa," said franziska von karma. and then she placed the party hat onto manfred von karma's head.
"oh," said manfred von karma.
"if you will come this way, miles and i have prepared you a cake," said franziska von karma.
manfred von karma and gregory edgeworth followed franziska von karma to the cake. then they seated themselves at the table and had manfred von karma blow out all the candles. all sixty-seven of them. it was a very large cake. manfred von karma blew out all of them at the same time, perfectly.
then they ate the cake. after they were all finished with their cake, franziska revealed the hidden presents. manfred von karma was delighted. at least, as delighted as manfred von karma could be. he unwrapped the first one.
"do you like it. this one is mine," said franziska von karma. it was a beautiful pair of turquoise earrings. manfred von karma put them in immediately.
"yes, i love them. thank you very much," he said.
then he unwrapped the next present. it was a collector's edition star trek: the original series box set. manfred von karma held it up to the light and looked at it for a long time.
"i certainly hope that means he likes my gift," said miles.
manfred von karma carefully set miles' gift to the side, and unwrapped the last gift. going through the process of elimination, this must be the one from gregory edgeworth.
"this is the one from me," said gregory edgeworth.
"thank you, gregory edgeworth," said manfred von karma.
he slowly unwrapped it, making sure not to tear the wrapping paper. inside was a box. and inside the box was... a hat. a very fancy, dark blue hat, with a feather in it.
manfred von karma removed the hat. he then removed the party hat from his own head. finally, he placed the new hat where the party hat had been.
"you look very dashing," said gregory edgeworth.
manfred von karma did not know if gregory edgeworth was being facetious with him, or if he simply thought that anyone would look better with a hat. still, he kept it on. just in case.
manfred von karma was about to begin putting away the wrapping paper for future use, when gregory edgeworth tugged on his sleeve.
"that is not your only present from me," gregory edgeworth said.
"it isn't?" said manfred von karma, confused. he did not see any other gifts. though, he supposed, one might have been hidden at a different location.
"here is your second present," said gregory edgeworth. then he stepped forward and kissed manfred von karma again.
manfred von karma jumped. "not in front of the children, gregory," he said.
"i am well into my twenties," said miles.
"children," repeated manfred von karma.
they all spent the rest of the day lounging about the house and talking amongst one another. at one point, miles was sitting on a couch, and a streamer came loose from the wall and fell very slowly onto miles' head. franziska von karma laughed about that.
gregory edgeworth went home at the end of the day, and he and manfred von karma kissed one last time. manfred von karma was getting used to kissing gregory edgeworth. it was a good thing. manfred von karma enjoyed kissing gregory edgeworth.
manfred von karma was looking forward to his next birthday, even though that would be in a year, and by that point he probably would have forgotten that birthdays existed once again. but it was good to be excited for something. manfred von karma did not usually get excited about things. unless those things were star trek.
the end