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Trucy Wright considers herself a patient person. She watched her fathers dance around each other for over seven years, after all, and those were only the ones she was around to see! Somehow every fool-proof, masterminded, borderline magical scheme she hatched was foiled by her adoptive fathers being consistently, simultaneously genius and the most stupid people she knew.
Although, she did have some aces up her sleeve during those years; a good magician never works alone, after all. (A lesson she’d learned indirectly from her birth father many many years ago; she prefers to think about those years as little as possible, however.) That ace was her babysitter-slash-partner in crime (usually not in a literal sense), Maya Fey, along with a rotating cast of co-conspirators including members of the WAA and the prosecutor’s offices, among many others.
However, none of her assistants could perfect her act as well as Maya. Maya, Trucy thinks, is uniquely qualified; not only do her magic powers rival Trucy’s own, but Maya’s experience in both scheming and life in general (some places, teenagers just can’t access without an adult, and as weird as it seems to Trucy, Maya does technically qualify) gives her unrivaled skills in creating and exacting only the most incredibly meticulous of schemes, to say nothing of her skills in reading people that come from years of defending innocent clients.
Trucy considers herself patient, but after several months of watching her most skilled accomplice stumble around her emotions cluelessly in the exact manner the two had made fun of Trucy’s dads for, she figures anyone in her position would be fed up.
“For the love of- Maya, are you staring at Miss Von Karma again?” Trucy sighed. “You haven’t been listening at all, have you?”
“Excuse me!? I have NOT been staring! I’ll have you know, I just… zoned out for a minute!”
The two had been sitting in the courthouse lobby after a trial, in which Phoenix and Maya had once again secured a ‘not guilty’ verdict against a thankfully non-vengeful Franziska Von Karma. Phoenix had stepped out to answer a phone call (probably from Miles) so Maya and Trucy, who had been tagging along to trials as usual, had been talking while they waited.
Well, Trucy had been talking at least.
“Mhm. Zoned out with your eyes right on Miss Von Karma’s-”
“Shhh!!! She’s coming this way!!” Maya slapped her hand over Trucy’s mouth, and Trucy bit back the urge to, well, bite back as Franziska made her way over.
“Good afternoon Miss Fey. Miss Wright,” She nodded to the younger girl.
“Heya Miss Von Karma, I… tough luck with the trial, huh? You did great though!” Maya stuttered out, earning a blush from Franziska and a barely disguised eye roll from Trucy.
“Yes- well- the defendant was innocent, the trial ended how it should have after all. In any case, there is an unrelated matter with which I’d appreciate your… assistance.”
“M-me!? I-I mean, sure, yeah, what do you need help with?”
“Well, as you may be aware of, the prosecutors’ office hosts a Christmas party every year the weekend before Christmas day, and my fool of a little brother, being the chief prosecutor and organizer of said party, has demanded I also be in attendance. Frankly, I find parties to be a waste of time, but he has insisted that I not only make an appearance, but bring a-” She paused. “A guest. Considering that you’re one of the few people in this town’s criminal justice system here that I could stand to be around for that long, I’m requesting that you be my… companion for the night, should you be amenable.”
“You want me to go with you to the party?” Maya nearly shouted. Franziska nodded, the blush on her face growing by the second. “I’d love to!” Maya grinned. "Oh- but I don’t have a car, so you’d probably have to drive me, if that’s alright.”
“Of course. I’ll pick you up around six on Saturday then, if that works for you?” Franziska asked.
“Sounds good! Oh, hang on-” Maya fished around in her pocket for a moment, eventually pulling out a crumpled receipt and a pen. “Here, I’ll give you my number in case you need to get ahold of me!”
“O-oh, thank you, Miss Fey. I’ll be in touch” Franziska folded the hastily scribbled note and tucked it into her pocket.
“Oh, also, you can just call me Maya!” She chuckled. “No need to be so formal with me!”
“I see. Thank you then, Maya. I’ll keep that in mind. See you Saturday?”
“Sounds good! See you then!”
As Franziska walked off, Maya turned to Trucy.
”Oh. My. GOD! DID YOU SEE THAT!? She invited me to a PARTY!! Wait-“ Maya blanched. “Do you think she might like me back? There’s no way, right?”
Against all odds, Trudy’s patience won out and she managed to refrain from screaming at the older girl, instead waiting until she arrived home with her father to call her best friend, coincidentally Maya’s cousin, Pearl Fey.
“-And then she’s like, ‘do you think she likes me?’ And I’m just- Gods, it’s like my dads all over again!” Trucy complained, her exasperation palpable through her flip phone’s receiver.
”You’re so right! I wasn’t even there and I don’t even know Miss Franziska very well but she CLEARLY has a soft spot for Mystic Maya! She snatched her whip and messed around with it and Miss Franziska didn’t even yell at her!! She just let her hold it!!!”
”And now they’re going to that party together and it’s just gonna be so dang painful to watch them be clueless all night! I can’t just let this happen!!” She paused. “Unless…”
Pearl sighed, though she let out a mischievous grin. “You have an idea, don’t you?” The following borderline maniacal laughter gave Pearl any answer she needed.
“Hey Pearl, you still have that mistletoe growing in your garden, don’t you?”
—-
“Thank you again for helping to decorate for the party, Trucy. I hadn’t realized that my position as chief prosecutor would require me to take up the mantle of party planning as well,” Edgeworth said over his shoulder as he put the finishing touches on the snowflake-shaped lights Trucy had suggested for decorating in lieu of what could only be described as a chaotic mess of multicolored strands that Phoenix had fished from a box in the attic.
“Of course, dad! It’s no trouble at all, plus I do love getting to climb ladders indoors after Papa banned me from it!”
“He wh- actually, tell me when this is done. I don’t think I want to know the story behind that one right now.” Edgeworth sighed. “How are things looking over there, Trucy?”
“Almost done! I do have one proposal, just a minor, teeeny tiny suggestion for a little, itty bitty extra decoration, since I’ve been so helpful with this after all,” Trucy said, channeling her best “there’s something I want to do and you’re not going to stop me” voice.
“If it involves fire, explosives or unexpected disappearances of objects or people, then no.”
“Oh, it doesn’t, don’t worry! I was just wondering if I could hang this above one of the doorframes.” She held up a sprig of mistletoe with an innocent grin.
“...Trucy, if you’re planning something-”
“It doesn’t involve you or Papa.”
“...fine then. Go ahead, as long as you don’t plan on enforcing that, ahem, tradition too strictly.”
“Don’t worry! All kisses are strictly consensual! You guys are exempt from it anyway, just forget it’s even there!” Her grin began to twist from innocent to a face of pure mischief.
“...Once again, I think it’s best if I don’t know what kind of scheme you have going on. Whatever it is, do it safely, and for God’s sake, if you disappear your father’s house keys again you’re grounded for a month.”
“You got it, boss!” She gave a salute before rushing off to hang up the mistletoe.
“I have a sinking feeling I’m going to regret this…” Edgeworth muttered to himself, turning back to finish the decorations.
—
“Alright, remember the plan?”
“You disappear Miss Von Karma’s whip and bring it under the target area, where I’m waiting to fake cry to get Mystic Maya’s attention, they both run to the target area and bam, they’re under the mistletoe!” Pearl recited with a look of serious focus.
“Right! Then there’s no way they can avoid their feelings!” Trucy gave a thumbs-up. “Oh, it’s almost time for the party! Ready?”
“Ready!”
“Excellent! Then operation: Christmas Magic is a go!”
—
A knock on her door shook Maya from where she was most definitely not pacing so much that her heels were in danger of collapsing from wear. “Coming!” She shouted, checking once again in her bedroom mirror before throwing on a shawl over what was arguably the nicest vaguely holiday party-appropriate attire she owned, having opted to forego her favorite Christmas sweater (she and Phoenix had bought matching ‘ugly’ sweaters years ago, both imprinted with the phrase “ho ho homo” and a rainbow-colored Christmas tree, much to Edgeworth’s later chagrin.) She walked at an entirely normal speed to her front door (because to say she had sprinted there in her heels, nearly tripping over her rug in her haste, would be to imply some sort of infatuation which was simply impossible!) and opened it to greet-
“Hello, Mis- Maya. I hope I didn’t interrupt, I’m aware I’ve arrived a couple minutes early, but the traffic downtown is awful this time of day.” She looked up from her watch, just then taking in the sight of Maya, hair in a bun and dressed in a steel-blue strapless dress, looking more gorgeous than anyone Franziska had ever seen in her life.
Maya, for her part, was functionally speechless. This is the first time I’ve seen her not wearing her court dress, her brain unhelpfully supplied. “Oh, uh- yeah! No worries, I was just finishing up. You look-” majestic? Royal? Like the girl of my dreams? Incredibly se- “Awesome! That color looks really good on you!” To say the least, she thought. In her form-fitting lavender halter dress, hair braided in a way that Maya assumes took at least an hour and multiple people, she looked like a vision out of Maya’s fantasies. Not that she’d ever admit that, of course.
“W-well thank you. You look quite lovely yourself. Now, shall we be going? We ought not to let that foolish brother of mine wait too long, or he’ll surely find some way to make even more of a fool of himself.”
“With Nick by his side? It’s too late for that, they really bring out the dumbass in each other. We’ll be lucky if the building isn’t in shambles by the time the party’s over!”
Franziska laughed. “I suppose they do, don’t they? All the more reason to move quickly if we don’t want the entire building up in flames.”
“Right! Let’s go!” Maya replied, doing in her view an incredible job hiding the fact that just then was the first time she had heard Franziska genuinely laugh, and she was beginning to understand Nick’s pain.
—
“Franziska, Maya, I’m glad you two could make it! I- OW!” Phoenix winced as a familiar whip reacquainted itself with his arm.
“That’s Miss Von Karma to you, Wright! Just because it’s Christmas doesn’t mean-”
“Hey, give him a break, Fran, he has to put up with Miles’ baking, he’s being punished enough, don’t you think?” Maya chuckled, placing her hand on Franziska’s arm. Franziska sighed. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.” She turned to Phoenix. “But don’t dare to disrespect me like that again, you fool, or I swear-”
“Okay, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Phoenix held his hands up in surrender.
“Hmph. You should be.” She turned back to Maya. “I’m going to go see if my foolish brother has adequately stocked the refreshment table, would you like anything?”
“Hmm, I don’t want to chance the cookies, at least not while sober, so maybe some punch! I’ll bet that’s been spiked by now!” She laughed. Franziska rolled her eyes, but headed for the refreshments anyway.
“So,” Phoenix said, once the prosecutor was out of earshot. “Fran, huh?”
“Oh, shut up or I’ll let her whip you again.” She glared playfully.
—
“Alright, target identified, phase one is a go. To your places!” Trucy whispered into her phone.
“On it! Good luck, give me the signal when it’s acting time!” Pearl whispered back. Trucy slipped the phone into her pocket and took a breath. “Hey, Miss Franziska!”
Franziska turned from where she’d been scolding a semi-inebriated Prosecutor Gavin for spiking the punch bowl (despite the culprit, unbeknownst to both of them, having been an extremely bored Simon Blackquill following the suggestion of Athena.) “Ah, hello Miss Wright. What can I do for you?” She gave the teen a polite smile.
“I was wondering if I could show off a cool magic trick I learned!! I know you’ve been too busy to see my shows lately, so I brought the show to you!” She exclaimed, with a flourish of her hands and a tip of her hat.
“Oh- I’d be honored! Should I sit down?”
“Nah, you’re fine as you are! I’ll just need a non-monetary donation from the audience!” She held out her hat. “Don’t worry, I’ll give it back afterwards!” She whispered.
“I see…” Franziska glanced at her whip, thought for a moment, and then placed it into the hat. “Do be careful with it, though.”
“Of course! Ready?” Trucy placed her cape on top of the hat, covering the opening the whip had been placed in. “One, two, three-” She removed the cape, and the hat was empty. “Tadaa!!”
Franziska looked torn between worry and approval, glancing around. “Excellent work, but where-”
“Oh, don’t worry about your whip! It should be nearby, probably in the room somewhere…” She frowned, seemingly deep in thought. “Hmmm…”
In that moment, one of Trucy’s hands slid into her pocket, opening her phone covertly and allowing Pearl, still on the call, to hear her next words. “Oh! I think it might be over by the coat room!” She pointed to the left, where a (locked) coatroom and a hallway leading to several offices, and most importantly a bundle of mistletoe, waited just out of sight.
“Alright, I’m going to find my whip, and when I come back I think we need to have a brief discussion on teleporting another’s personal belongings.” She smiled, though her face still betrayed her frustration with the child.
“Okay! Sorry Franziska!” Trucy called after the prosecutor, who had already begun making her way to the coatroom.
—
“B-but the princess-”
“I know, Pearls, but the show writers had to kill her off to make the story make sense.”
“But she was his special someone!!” A seemingly distraught Pearl Fey sobbed into the shoulder of Maya, as the younger recounted the end of a show she had “just been watching.”
“I get it, Pearly, but sometimes people fall in love with the wrong people, that’s just how it is. There’s just no way they can be a thing.” Maya’s face fell, and Pearl was glad her face was pressed into Maya’s shoulder, else she’d have noticeably rolled her eyes at her cousin’s lack of subtlety. And I thought I was a hopeless romantic, the teen thought, meanwhile my cousin can’t just confess to someone she’s so obviously mutually in love with!
“I- I know, I just-”
“Is everything okay, Miss Fey…s?” Franziska asked, coming to a stop in front of the girls who had been sitting against the hallway wall a few feet away from the coatroom.
“Oh, yeah, Pearl’s just sad about a TV show. She’ll be alright. You know how it goes, love stories.” She chuckled.
“Ah, I see, my brother was quite the same, though he’ll never admit it. I once caught him crying over an episode of the Steel Samurai. Something about a ‘redemption arc’ and ‘the magistrate deserved a second chance’ or something.” All three girls laughed.
“Y’know, speaking of love story…” Moment of truth, Pearls, the youngest thought.
*CRASH*
“What the-” Maya had barely gotten the words out when all hell broke loose. All at once, in a matter of seconds, a few things became apparent. 1; whatever had made that noise must have involved fire, because 2; the fire alarms had been set off, and along with the aggressive screeching, 3; the automatic sprinklers had activated, drenching everyone in the building and causing 4; a mad dash of lawyers and other fancily-dressed folk out any available exit, meaning 5; Phoenix and Miles, on their way out, had the instinct to grab up Trucy and Pearl in a way not dissimilar to how they would have, had the two girls been seven, and not seventeen.
Regardless, the end result was this; two extremely confused girls sitting under an array of sprinklers which had visibly doused whatever fire had been started…
…with the side effect of managing to somehow collapse the sizable bookshelf sitting beside the front door a moment later, effectively blocking the only exit to the room from the two remaining occupants.
Other than the sound of fire alarms and sprinklers, the room was silent as the two recovered from the sudden chaos.
“...what the actual fuck.”
“You can say that again,” Maya groaned, sitting up from where she’d been knocked into the wall by the effective stampede of caribou with law degrees. “You okay?”
“Yes, I think I’m fine.” Franziska looked around, meeting Maya’s eyes. “Are you!? Oh God, you didn’t get knocked too hard, did you? Let me check for a concussion-” The prosecutor crawled over and placed her hand to Maya’s head.
“No, I’m fine, I swear- I promise I don’t have a concussion! It’s fine!!” She chuckled. “Just more shaken up than anything…” The two looked around, noticing the door simultaneously.
“...”
“...”
“...what’s the chances we can-”
“Zero.”
“Dammit.” Maya sighed. “Guess we’re stuck here till help arrives. Shouldn’t be too long, right?”
“I should hope not, every legal mind on this side of the state was in attendance, the emergency responders should be moving like bats out of hell by now.”
“That’s good.” Maya looked up. “You think the sprinklers are gonna keep going like this, or-”
Franziska gasped, realizing that though she had been out of range of the sprinklers, Maya had not been so lucky and was still being drenched. “Oh my- come over here, I think we can sit under this.” She led them both beneath a nearby table.
“Thanks, that was getting kinda annoying.” Maya chuckled, reaching to undo her hair.
In that moment, with her absolutely drenched hair cascading down her shoulders and lying across her disheveled dress, bangs just brushing her ruined makeup, Maya, Franziska thought, was the most angelic, radiant human on the planet. I’m in love.
Loathe she be to admit it, Franziska Von Karma, eldest daughter of Manfred Von Karma and older sister to Miles Edgeworth, esteemed prosecutor in both Germany and America and bane of anyone within range of her dreaded whip, was in love for the first time in as long as she could remember. Every time she’d found herself giggling at a joke Maya made (in court, of all places!) and every time she’d found herself remembering fondly the post-trial coffees she and Maya would get every so often on the occasion that she’d been up against Wright, every single moment of foolish, childish, cheesy adoration flashed through her mind…
Only to be snapped back to the present by a sudden flurry of water as Maya shook off her hair like a golden retriever, drenching everything in a five-foot radius.
“Much better, I- Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Maya gasped, seemingly remembering the properties of water’s propulsion, or just realizing her actions by the startled look on Franziska’s face. “Force of habit, I forgot you were- well I mean of course I remembered you were there, but I just always-”
“Maya Fey.”
Maya stopped. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck- this is the part where she says she never wants to see me again and-
“Will you go on a date with me?” Franziska asked, her tone as stable as if she were asking another prosecutor to hand her a paper, or calling her brother a fool.
“I- what-”
“Never mind, I apologize, please forget I said-” before she could finish her statement, Maya surged forward to kiss her. The prosecutor was too surprised to kiss back, though once she got her bearings-
Maya pulled back. “I’m so sorry, did I read that wr-” This time it was Franziska who initiated the kiss, cupping Maya’s cheek and pulling her back in for a much more coordinated kiss.
After a moment, the two pulled apart to catch their breaths.
“Is that a yes then?” Franziska asked with a grin, still out of breath.
“Of course, you dummy!” Maya laughed, leaning in to kiss her again.
Between decidedly long-overdue kisses, the pair talked about anything and everything for nearly two hours when the sound of sirens outside and firefighters blasting into the room stopped them. The next few hours were a blur of constantly reassuring a distraught Trucy and Pearl, dishing out some well-deserved whippings to a certain household disaster who had managed to misuse a waffle maker to the point of spontaneous combustion (on a related note, Apollo Justice has been banned from all office appliances indefinitely) and by the time the two girls had reached their respective homes after a full physical check-up by the hospital by order of a certain chief prosecutor, it was nearing 10pm.
Franziska had just tucked into her bed when from her nightstand, her phone buzzed.
‘Crazy day today! Coffee tomorrow to pick up where we left off?’
‘Alright. I’ll pick you up at 8.’
‘Kk, gnight <3’
‘Goodnight, Maya. Merry Christmas.’