Work Text:
The Heroes that Save Us
The first time Gumshoe gives Edgeworth something tokusatsu related is shortly after the first time they meet.
Edgeworth still doesn’t understand everything that’s happened with this case. It’s not holding together properly. There are undercurrents that he’s missing, things he’ll have to remember for the future.
But the most important thing is that a prosecutor is dead, and Edgeworth has managed to be useful to the investigation despite everything.
Not that it mattered to Von Karma. Nothing Edgeworth ever does will be good enough for Manfred von Karma. He’d thought he had come to terms with that as a very young teenager, especially once he realized that nothing Franziska ever did would be enough either, but somehow his mentor’s disdain still stings every time.
Perhaps that’s why he’s busy hugging his chest and staring out the window when the detective approaches him. Certainly there’s no reason Edgeworth should be disappointed in his own efforts. He wasn’t the one who lost the murderer, after all. That was the useless detectives.
Just like Edgeworth isn’t responsible for the tears of Kay Faraday, tears she’d tried again and again to hide, trying to live up to her father’s expectations.
Expectations that he surely never meant her to hold even after his brutal and violent death. Surely every father would think it’s all right for their child to grieve? To cry? To feel like a part of themself has died as they realize that they will never, ever see their father again?
Edgeworth leans forward slightly, keeping his eyes fixed on the street far below. On the way the wind ruffles people’s hair. If he’s staring at people, if he’s looking outside , then he’s not locked in an elevator. He’s not smelling the tang of blood. He’s not—
“Mr. Edgeworth, sir?”
Edgeworth startles, and then turns a disapproving frown on the detective behind him. It’s the man that Badd set to watch the door. Gumshoe? Yes, Gumshoe. “Can I help you, detective?”
“I just thought…” Gumshoe rubs at the back of his head with one hand, a sheepish smile on his face. “Well, it’s been quite the day. And I got your sister one of these from the machine downstairs, and she said that she didn’t want it, that it was your type of thing, but she also wouldn’t give it back, so I think she really liked it.”
And with that rather non sequitur answer, the large man holds out his other hand, revealing a clear plastic egg. Nestled inside the egg, on a red base, is a little figur e of the original UltraHero .
Edgeworth reaches for the toy instinctively, and then freezes.
He doesn’t need to take this. He’s not even entirely certain he wants to take it. UltraHero aired long before he started getting interested in tokusatsu, though it’s referenced often enough and show n enough in reruns that he’s managed to catch most of it. Without UltraHero, there would be no other tokusatsu shows—or if there were, they would not look like the ones he’s spent far too much time obsessing over.
Gumshoe closes the distance between himself and Edgeworth, clasping their hands together, transferring the egg with its little silver-and-red alien inside. UltraHero’s arms form a right angle, his classic attack pose.
“It’s been a day. And if I’m sayin’ that, well… but you did good today. Better than anyone could’ve expected. I’m glad we managed to figure out what happened to Mr. Faraday, and I promise us detectives won’t stop until we find the killer.” Gumshoe straightens, looking like his mentor Detective Badd for just a moment.
Then he grins, and Edgeworth can’t quite keep a sigh from escaping.
“This is unnecessary.” Edgeworth slips the cheap little toy into his pocket anyway.
“Yeah? I guess it is.” Gumshoe shrugs. “Still. I hope you like it.”
And with that, he turns and walks away, preventing Edgeworth from saying anything else.
Since what his father’s ghost would want him to say is thank you , and what Von Karma would want him to say is what a pathetic excuse for a person , and what Edgeworth himself wants to say is more will you sleep all right tonight…
Yes, it’s better that Gumshoe walks away, but that doesn’t stop Edgeworth from feeling like something has been left unfinished as he runs his fingers over and over the gift he knows he doesn’t deserve.
***
The second time Gumshoe offers Edgeworth a tokusatsu toy is after the Will Powers trial.
It shouldn’t matter. There is so very much else that is happening—so very much else that Edgeworth is dealing with.
So much else that Edgeworth doesn’t even understand what’s happening when Gumshoe walks into his office and puts a box down on his desk.
“What’s this?” Edgeworth stares at the box in confusion, something in the back of his mind saying he recognizes the dimensions even though they don’t make any sense with this location.
“Open it.” Gumshoe grins, though it fades into a puzzled frown a moment later. “Or, uh—maybe don’t? I’m actually not sure how this works.”
“Detective, that is strangely cryptic, even for you.” Edgeworth pulls the box over to his side of the desk, opens it, and blinks at the contents.
Gumshoe is grinning again. “Mr. Powers had a bunch of these, and said he didn’t want to keep them, and I thought, you know—you would like one? But I know that you can’t take something from him, but you deserve something, given how hard you worked and how difficult this has been—”
“Detective, please stop talking for a moment.” Edgeworth gently pries the pristine FigureArt Steel Samurai out of the cardboard box it had been resting in. “Do you know how much this is worth?”
“Not a clue, but I know Steel Samurai stuff makes you smile.” Gumshoe shoves his hands into his pockets, rising up onto his toes. “And it’s Steel Samurai, and Mr. Powers said there aren’t many like it.”
“There are not. This was an exclusive release. Only one thousand were made, and they sold out within an hour of orders being opened.” Edgeworth had meant to snag one despite the expense, but he’d been waylaid by Von Karma, and spent the time when he should have been purchasing his posable figure getting harangued by his mentor for several perceived failures. “I can’t take this.”
“You didn’t. I did, and I’m gifting it to you.” Gumshoe’s smile fades into a determined scowl. “You didn’t have to do what you did. I know it would’ve been easy to do what Von Karma would have wanted. To keep your perfect record. But I knew you wouldn’t, and I’m proud of you, sir.”
It doesn’t matter. Gumshoe is just a detective, and a not terribly bright one at that, for all that he’s good at observing what’s needed. People that Gumshoe admires could just as easily be yakuza as upstanding members of society, and the likelihood the detective would notice is slim.
But he received this incredible gift, and he thought of Edgeworth. He’s proud of Edgeworth, thinks Edgeworth did what was right, though it’s becoming increasingly hard to understand what right is with Phoenix back in his life.
“Thank you, detective.” Edgeworth returns the FigureArt to the cardboard box. “I… thank you.”
“Don’t mention it, sir. Just keep bein’ yourself, so I can keep helpin’ you!”
Edgeworth doesn’t know what to do with this.
Just like he doesn’t know what to do with Phoenix, or with the complications that have entered his life over the last few months.
Gumshoe said to just keep being himself, so Edgeworth decides he will do just that. He stands, sweeping past Gumshoe and heading for the door. “Come, detective. We’ve more work to do.”
“Always, sir.” Gumshoe trots along behind him, and the two of them head off into a world that is so much more complicated than any tokusatsu show.
But also in much less danger of exploding or facing genocide than they would be in a tokusatsu show, so Edgeworth supposes that’s something.
***
Edgeworth is the one who offers to take Gumshoe out to eat at a tokusatsu themed restaurant.
That isn’t his initial intention, just like his initial intention isn’t to make the offer anything romantic. He just wants a chance to talk, to clear the air and determine if he’d burned any bridges he didn’t intend to.
“I understand if you don’t want to go.” Edgeworth stands stiffly in front of the detective, hugging his arm to his chest. “I know that there might be… hard feelings.”
“I’d be happy to have dinner with you.” Gumshoe rocks up onto his tiptoes and then back down again, grinning like the proverbial cat that ate the canary. Or perhaps the dog that opened the entire bag of dog food? Something like that, at least.
“Wonderful. If you have a location that you’d like—”
“Isn’t there a new restaurant above the figure shop downtown? One that specializes in dishes related to tokusatsu shows?”
Edgeworth stops processing words for a moment, just staring at the detective. There is indeed such a place, and Edgeworth had been planning to treat himself to it once everything settled down—a welcome back present from himself to himself. He didn’t expect anyone else to be aware of it, though. Well, perhaps Maya, but her life is even stranger than his, and given her duties in Kurain Village he thinks it’s less likely she’ll have noticed a novelty pop-up restaurant. “I—you’re sure that’s where you’d want to go? Not somewhere more… professional?”
“We can if you want.” Gumshoe shrugs. “But food’s food t’ me, sir, and I thought it looked neat.”
Edgeworth tries to find his footing in what has turned into a very unexpected conversation. “I thought tokusatsu was something you’d mainly dabbled in because you know I have a fondness for it?”
“That’s how it started, yeah, but I’ve been enjoying it well enough on my own now, and I thought you’d like Heroic Hamburgers more than another one of those stuffy fancy places.”
Edgeworth actually enjoys those stuffy fancy places, for the most part—not everything Von Karma introduced him to has become tainted by association. Just… a large number of them. And if honestly given the choice between yet another fancy expensive meal and one where they’ll give him a limited edition gashapon toy with his meal, well… it’s far cheaper than trying to find it on the secondary market, isn’t it? “If you’d like to go to Heroic Hamburgers, I can be persuaded.”
“I’ll go anywhere with you, sir.” Gumshoe stares at him, eyes bright, a small smile playing around his mouth.
“I’m glad to hear that.” Edgeworth can’t quite help crossing his arms more tightly, though he knows he shouldn’t. This is a time to be open and vulnerable, but he’s been hurt so often even when he’s not opening himself up to the potential.
He’s trying to change that, though. He’s trying to be better; he’s trying to make the world better.
And that means sometimes he has to say things that are uncomfortable. “I know that my leaving like I did was… difficult. For a great many people. I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right, sir.” Gumshoe smiles again, and he really seems to mean it. “Sometimes you’ve gotta do what you have t’ do. No harm in it.”
Edgeworth’s eyebrows reach his hairline as they arch up without his consent. “There was actually a great deal of potential harm in it. I hurt Phoenix, and Larry, and my sister…” He didn’t hurt himself, though he thought about it. Leaving was actually the kindest thing he could have done for himself, and he will never regret that he did it, but he will regret that others were hurt because he didn’t have the proper words to explain why he was leaving.
Gumshoe hums, a soft, rumbling note that fills Edgeworth’s chest. “Look, sometimes you have to give yourself room. My mentor at the precinct, Detective Badd? He tells us all that. There’ll be things we’ll see and hear, and we’ll need some space, and that doesn’t make us weak. It doesn’t make us bad. It can make us brittle, and it can make us sharp and cruel, and so it’s okay if we need to take breaks sometimes. To make sure we’re still happy with the shape we’re turnin’ into.”
“That… is advice I wish I had a long time ago.” Edgeworth swallows down anything harsher he might say.
“I would have given it to ya, if I knew you needed it.” Gumshoe’s brows draw together. “I watched the latest episodes, you know? Of this year’s Samurai season. That one character, Emperor Garo? He leaves for like ten episodes, even though it would have been good for him to be there, because he has to get stronger so he can contain the forces of the Underworld at the end.”
Edgeworth blinks, not sure if he’s surprised or touched by Gumshoe’s knowledge of the show. Both, he supposes. “You know that only happened because the actor’s schedule made it impossible for him to be there, yes?”
“That might be the reason out here, but it’s not the reason in the show, and I like the reason they give in the show.” Gumshoe’s expressive face turns grimly serious. “Just like I like you, Mr. Edgeworth. I think it’ll be good for everyone if you’re back and certain of yourself. I think you’ll be able to help keep the Underworld at bay.”
Edgeworth draws in a long, slow breath. “That’s a great deal of faith to put in one man.”
Gumshoe shrugs. “Not if the man’s earned it.”
Edgeworth runs a hand over his face, trying to hide that his breathing has hitched more than once. He does not deserve devotion like this, but he will try to be worthy of it, as so many other people have not been. “Thank you, Detective. Now, about the meal…” Does he really need to eat out with Gumshoe, since they’ve apparently had the meat of the conversation in Edgeworth’s office, and it’s gone better than he could have hoped? “This was most of what I wanted to talk to you about. If you would like to get yourself a meal, I can give you funds—”
“I want to go with you.” Gumshoe takes a step closer to Edgeworth. “Sir.”
Edgeworth’s breath catches in his throat again, and he actually looks at his long-time friend. Sees the square jaw, and the stubble, and the thick hair, and the muscles that show through the layers of fabric—
Edgeworth has never really let himself want things. Certainly not a partner. What would he be offering a partner, after all, but a broken vessel that Von Karma would never give a kind word to?
But if he is no longer Von Karma’s, and if he is free to choose what he wants…
He gathers his coat.
He wants a friend, first. He wants someone who knows that he likes children’s shows, that he finds solace in them, and doesn’t think there’s anything strange about that.
He wants to take said friend to a dinner that they’ll both enjoy—that they’ll both understand.
The future beyond that can wait for the morning, and for Edgeworth to be on more certain footing himself.
***
The first time Edgeworth invites Gumshoe to a live show is also the first time he tries to comfort the detective.
Edgeworth has enough experience with breaking to know when someone is close to it, but that doesn’t make it any clearer how to help.
He waits until they’re alone, of course. He doesn’t want Gumshoe to feel like he’s being put on the spot, or like Edgeworth doesn’t appreciate the depth of his sorrow. So he carves out time despite the mess that is Prosecutor DeBeste’s life’s work, and he brings Gumshoe to his office for a private discussion.
“Is there anything I can do to help you?” Edgeworth crosses his arms in front of his chest, his right fingers tapping on his left arm. It’s a nervous gesture as much as a thinking one, but it will be familiar to Gumshoe, and it will help Edgeworth keep calm as they walk through these minefields together.
“Sir?” Gumshoe looks up at him through bleary, sleep-deprived eyes. They both need to get a chance to rest after this, really rest, but Edgeworth knows better than to assume they’ll get it.
“What happened with Detective Badd… I know he meant a great deal to you.” Edgeworth draws a breath. “If you wish to talk, including with someone else, I know a good therapist—”
“It hurts, yeah.” Gumshoe cuts off Edgeworth’s words, chewing on his lip. “I’m… it’s gonna take me a while to believe it’s all true. Badd taught me how to be a detective. I looked up to him. And it wasn’t all a lie, but it also wasn’t all the truth, and…”
“He was trying to do the right thing.” Edgeworth tries to gentle his voice. “He never did anything that he thought was going to hurt someone.”
“Not if they didn’t deserve it, at least.” Gumshoe sighs. “I know. I know it’s better than pretty much any of the other awful stuff we’ve uncovered. He’s not like Von Karma or DeBeste or Gant, or hell, even Ms. Lana Skye. He didn’t do anything that he knew would hurt people, just things he knew were illegal, but he did it because the legal system failed him.” Gumshoe’s voice goes quiet. “We failed him.”
Edgeworth reaches out, placing a hand on Gumshoe’s upper arm. “We did not fail him. We found all of the answers he’s been searching for. We protected the young lady who clearly means the world to him. We succeeded, detective. And even though it took far longer than I wish it had for justice to be done, it will be done. I promise you.”
Gumshoe’s lips quirk into a tentative smile. “I believe you, sir. Also, you’re, uh… you’re incredibly hot when you say things like that.”
Edgeworth freezes, his hand still on Gumshoe’s arm.
“Which isn’t to say you’re not hot usually, or—or I can pretend I didn’t say anything at all, about any of that.” Gumshoe rubs hard at the back of his head, looking sheepish. “I just thought, since we’re alone, and I’ve been getting the sense that we’re, uh, maybe more than friends from our dinners together, that maybe… maybe you wouldn’t mind.”
Edgeworth exhales slowly, counting silently as he does. With most people, he would mind their comments on his looks. He’s had too many people think he can be bought or flattered over the years, and one of the things they often comment on is his beauty. But with Gumshoe… with Gumshoe it feels different.
Perhaps in part because what he finds attractive is Edgeworth’s dedication to justice.
“You think…” Edgeworth forces his jaw to keep moving, his tongue to keep forming words. “That it’s… attractive… when I’m being…”
“When you’re being you. When you’re being like one of the heroes in those tokusatsu shows. They give speeches like that—I know you know, but it’s like one of those, right? Your helmet is broken and you’re bleeding and the fate of the world is on the line, and you could lie down and die or you could get up and fight—” Gumshoe mimes pushing himself to his feet with a blade, his eyes fixed on Edgeworth’s, doing a passable imitation of the Steel Samurai during a series finale. “And you always get up and fight. You believe in what you’re fighting for, despite all that’s happened, and that makes you shine.”
Edgeworth feels all his blood trying to pool in his cheeks, and he opens his mouth and finds that words have deserted him.
Gumshoe takes a step back. “But we can forget I said any of that, if you need. I appreciate you’re checking in on me, and I’m doing all right, and—”
Edgeworth steps forward, grabbing Gumshoe by the lapels of his trench, and pulls him down into a kiss.
Gumshoe freezes, eyes wide. Then he tries to smile despite Edgeworth’s lips being pushed awkwardly against his, and he reaches out, the fingers of his right hand sliding through Edgeworth’s hair, the fingers of his left hand pressing carefully against Edgeworth’s back, moving them closer together.
Gumshoe’s lips shift, and oh, yes, that is probably a better technique. Edgeworth will have to practice, so that they can achieve this level of synchronicity immediately.
He suspects, pulling back to catch a breath, that Gumshoe won’t mind.
Gumshoe’s entire body seems to vibrate with joy, an ecstatic grin on his face. “Thank you, sir.”
“Don’t thank me. That sounds… strange.” Edgeworth allows his hands to relax their death-grip on Gumshoe’s jacket. “Just… let me do something nice for you.”
“Well… there is that Steel Samurai live show that’s going to be happening—”
“Done. Front row tickets if I can manage them, good ones if I can’t.” Edgeworth pauses, his mind catching up with his mouth. “You want to go to a Steel Samurai live show? Together?”
“Of course I do. I like seeing you getting excited about justice, and that’s practically the Steel Samurai’s catch phrase.” Gumshoe trails his fingers down Edgeworth’s cheek, a gentle caress. “Plus I heard there’s somethin’ in it that’ll tie into the plot. So, what do you say?”
“Detective, I think this is the start of something absolutely beautiful.” Stepping forward, Edgeworth wraps his arms around the detective, glad to feel his warmth and strength. To hear the beat of Gumshoe’s heart, and feel Edgeworth’s own heart beating hard.
They could have died. There were so many times when they could have died, or been otherwise destroyed and torn apart.
But they weren’t. They have survived, and they are making the world a better place, one traumatized and abused young person at a time.
Gumshoe wraps his arms around Edgeworth, holding him close, and Edgeworth exhales a soft sigh.
They are alive, and they are together, and they are going to keep fighting for justice, exactly like all the Samurai that have come and gone from the television screen. There may not be heroes in costumes in their world, but there are heroes nonetheless, and Edgeworth and Gumshoe will be some of them, no matter what monsters decide to jump in their path.