Work Text:
Simon had a headache. A less informed person might assume this was because of the rather large hawk currently sitting on his head, but Simon knew better than to doubt Taka’s control. No, the cause of his headache was obviously related to the facts that he was soaked in sweat, the light filtering through the blinds was making him squint, and everything in the room looked just a little bit off, sort of… blurry around the edges, like it all moved a centimeter to the left whenever he looked away. Simon groaned and reached over to the nightstand for his phone.
He stared blearily at the screen for a moment, trying to come up with an excuse to call out of work. He didn’t want Athena to worry, but unfortunately his boss was probably dating Athena’s boss or something, so gossip had a way of getting around.
Eventually he pecked out: “won’t be making the trial this morning, i’ve a dire need to attend a rakugo rehearsal. assign someone who’ll throw athena in the deep end, i can’t go easy on her every time”
Alright, so it wasn’t a good excuse, but it was about up to par with all his previous reasons for calling out of work for no good reason. Edgeworth usually accepted even the most outlandish of excuses, even when he could easily prove them wrong. Letting Simon flex his wings after 7 years in prison? Simon didn’t know, and he told himself he didn’t particularly care.
True to form, within a few minutes Edgeworth had texted back: “Understood. I’ll reassign the case.” Good God, he texted like someone twice his age.
As Simon was putting his phone down, he heard Taka make a noise that sounded awfully like “Tch.” Simon glared up at her as best he could.
“Don’t you ‘tch’ me,” he said. “I’m resting, aren’t I?”
Taka chittered scathingly. Taka couldn’t read, could she? Simon hadn’t taught her, but honestly, he wouldn’t put it past her to have figured it out. But whatever. He needed food. He sat up slowly and swung his legs off the side of the bed, and was immediately hit with a wave of static clouding his vision. He rolled his neck from side to side and waited for it to pass, then stood up and dizzily made his way to the kitchen. Taka stayed on top of his head.
In the kitchen, Simon could hear his blood rushing in his head. What did he even have in here? Bagels? Yes, there was a package of bagels on the counter. Toast. He could toast a bagel, probably. Toast was supposed to be good for nausea, wasn’t it?
His hands had started to shake a little, enough that he struggled a bit getting the twist tie off of the package, but eventually he managed to loosen it enough to rip it off. With relief, he took a bagel out and put the rest of the package in the microwave.
He punched in some number that seemed like the right amount of time, and the microwave started to hum, filling up his head and drowning out everything else. Taka was making some sort of noise that he barely registered over the soporific spinning of the plate and the wavering of the light in the dark room. Taka squawked again, louder. Maybe he should ask what she was on about, Simon thought idly–
In a flurry of feathers, Taka jumped in front of him and grabbed the door of the microwave, wrenching it open. A slight burnt smell drifted out of it as the plastic package wilted. Taka landed on top of the microwave, looked down at the package of bagels, then looked up at Simon and said, “Tch.” Then she took off in the direction of the bedroom. Simon started to reach for the package of bagels, then thought better of it and followed.
He stopped in the bathroom first just in case there was any medicine there, but after maybe a minute of staring blankly into the medicine cabinet, he was forced to conclude that there wasn’t. What had he expected, really? This had been Aura’s apartment, before Simon had moved in to take care of it while his sister was in jail. He wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her take cold meds or pain meds once in her life. If she did have any they’d be at the Space Center anyway. This place hadn’t even had a toothbrush when Simon moved in.
So Simon shuffled back into the bedroom and started rummaging around for some notepaper, while Taka watched him closely, occasionally chirping in concern. He dashed out a quick note for the people at the pharmacy and gave it to Taka along with some money.
“...counting on you, Taka” he mumbled, and Taka pecked at his fringe in response.
Simon used the energy he had left to wrestle the window open. Simon watched as Taka flew out gracefully, and then he collapsed onto the bed and drifted into an uneasy half-sleep.
Athena fidgeted in her seat at the WAA office, flipping through her notes for the 5th “one last time before the trial”. This would be her first time going up against Simon since his retrial, and she really wasn’t sure what to expect. Would he be less antagonistic? More antagonistic? How much of the court persona she’d seen was him playing up the “hardened criminal” image and how much was just… him? Half of her notes weren’t even about the case; they were scribbled-down observations about Simon’s pre-jail trials, which she’d watched in a nervous haze last night. She’d studied his tactics inside and out.
If she was being honest, it wasn’t the actual case she was worried about – she’d seen way worse even in her short time with the WAA. She wasn’t that scared of messing up – she was scared of messing up in front of Simon. She had the sinking feeling he still saw her as the scared 11-year-old kid she’d been the last time they’d really interacted. This was her chance to prove herself, to prove she was the kind of lawyer she’d promised to become.
“He knows how to get the judge on his side, but then again how hard is it to get the judge on your side? I don’t think I have to worry about that…” she muttered, while Widget kept up a steady stream of swearwords.
She glanced a little guiltily over at Apollo, who was organizing something on some shelves. She’d noticed he tended to catch her nervous energy, and when he was nervous, it made Athena more nervous, like a feedback loop of autism.
They both jumped a little when Mr. Wright opened the door.
“Change of plans,” Mr. Wright said. “Apparently Blackquill isn’t prosecuting this one.”
Athena shot out of her chair, scattering papers across the desk.
“WHAT?” she shouted. “Since when?”
“Since just now, apparently,” Mr. Wright said, shrugging apologetically and holding up his phone. “Edgeworth just told me.”
Athena sat back down, wilting.
“I’m gonna have to start all over…”
She sighed and started gathering up all her papers, trying to sort out which ones were actually case notes. This was difficult when her head was spinning with all the possible reasons Simon might not have wanted to face her in court.
“Well, it wouldn’t be a WAA case if you weren’t scrambling at the last minute,” Apollo said. “At least you don’t have to deal with Blackquill’s attack falcon.”
Athena was about to speak up in Taka’s defense when a loud tapping noise came from the direction of the window. All three of them looked over to see the attack falcon herself sitting politely on the windowsill.
Athena jumped up to let her in, while Apollo quietly moved to the opposite side of the room. Taka hopped in a little awkwardly, and Athena noticed she was holding a white paper bag in one claw. She also had a note in her beak, which she held out to Athena, who opened it skeptically.
The handwriting was a bit wavering, but unquestionably Simon’s, and it said:
“Pharmacy-dono,
TYLONOL
Just give it to Taka she is a bird and, a very good
Also money”
Athena stared blankly at the note for a beat, until something clicked in her head and she realized what was going on. Her hand flew up to her mouth and she tried desperately not to start giggling as Taka looked at her judgmentally. Apollo started inching towards her cautiously.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
Athena wheezed, trying to get herself under control, then burst out, “He’s just SICK!”
She knew she probably shouldn’t feel relieved about that, but the knowledge that Simon wasn’t brushing her off on purpose was a huge weight off her shoulders. Not to mention the note itself was very funny. She was definitely saving that one for when Simon got better.
Taka eventually lost patience with Athena’s laughing fit and jumped onto her shoulder, leaning in the direction of the door. Athena wiped her eyes and said, “Alright, alright, I’m just gonna grab some tea.”
She hurried over to the cabinet where she knew Mr. Edgeworth kept his fancy teas, brushing past Mr. Wright, who said, “Hold on Athena, where are you going?”
“Sorry Mr. Wright!” Athena said brightly, grabbing a few teas that looked good and heading for the door. “I gotta bow out too – Apollo can handle it, right?”
Apollo squawked.
“You’re the one who’s been making notes for this trial!” he protested. “And I’ve been wrapping up the Brackett case, I barely know anything about this one!”
“And what was all that about ‘it wouldn’t be a WAA case if you were prepared’?” Athena said over her shoulder.
She heard Apollo groan as she rushed out of the office.
Simon was lying in bed in a haze when he heard the door open. Ah, Taka’s back, he thought – then he caught up with himself and realized, wait, Taka went out through the window. Taka could open doors, sure, but why would she when there was a window already open? Someone else was in his apartment.
He tried to wrench his exhausted brain into gear, tried to get his body moving all at once and at the same time remember where his katana was – which meant that he tried to move in two directions and once and instead tumbled off the side of the bed in a pile of limbs and bedsheets. Lying on the floor in an instinctive panic, he could barely hear anything over the pounding of his heart, but a voice still managed to find its way into his brain.
“HEY SIMON, I BROUGHT TEA!”
Athena’s voice. It was just Athena.
Simon was a little confused about why Athena would be there, but that confusion was overpowered by the wave of relief that swept through him as his fight-or-flight response ebbed away.
“I don’t know what kind you like so I just got a bunch- Simon, why is there a whole thing of bagels in your microwave?” Athena continued.
A moment later her face filled Simon’s vision as she bent over him. Instead of explaining his rather undignified situation, Simon looked over to where Taka was sitting on Athena’s shoulder.
“You were supposed to get Tylenol,” he mumbled.
Taka answered by way of flying over to the headboard and dropping the bag of meds on Simon’s face on her way there. Then she started cleaning her wings, obviously feeling that her work here was done.
Simon took the bag and let Athena help him back up onto the bed. She’d already put a glass of water on the nightstand, and Simon washed the Tylenol down gratefully. Athena stood in front of him and put her hands on her hips.
“Seriously, Simon, you could have just told someone you were sick,” she said.
“I told the pharmacy,” Simon said.
“I saw the kitchen, you can’t even make food!” Athena continued, ignoring his interruption.
“Yes, that’s why I sent Taka to the pharmacy,” Simon emphasized.
Widget turned bright red as Athena bristled.
“That’s not a substitute for actual help, you dumbass!”
Simon knew, logically, that Athena was an adult, but hearing her swear still shocked him enough to stop arguing.
“You’re my brother,” Athena said plainly. “I’m going to care about you, whether you like it or not.”
“...Hm,” Simon acquiesced. “You said you have tea?”
Athena proudly displayed an eclectic variety of teabags – Simon picked one mostly at random, and Athena went back into the kitchen to heat up some water for it and make, in her words, “some real food”.
Simon laid back down and listened to the sounds of Athena rattling around in the kitchen, occasionally poking fun at him for how sparse it was. The soft hiss of water on the boil, melting into the sizzle of something being cooked. Taka nearby, ruffling her feathers and occasionally chirping softly.
Simon had not been the kind of person who falls asleep easily, or sleeps very deeply, for a long time – but there was something about the combination of the meds, the feeling of coming down from his momentary home intruder panic, and the comfort of familiar noises. Within minutes, Simon fell into a dreamless sleep.