Chapter Text
Kay enjoyed her routine on free days, since it allowed her to do so much and not have to wait until after school, she’d head into the city, visit Mr. Edgeworth and see if he had a case he needed help with, pretty consistently also see Mr. Wright at the time, and then head downstairs and talk to Eustace to see how he’s doing and see if he needs a work break. The answer was usually yes. So there she was again, Friend in tow, walking through the streets looking for a cheap place to eat, “You fine with a burger?” Kay asks him, recognizing a place down the street.
“Sure, haven’t had a good one in a while.” Eustace replies, something on his mind, Kay was certain of it.
“Alright!” They entered the fairly old diner, or at least it was designed to look that way, and took a seat at a booth, Kay’d been here at least once before, and it was good greasy food. She and Eustace both ordered, and he looked like he had something on his mind, “Whatcha thinking about over there?”
“Hm? Oh! I heard some news about Mr. Wright!” Eustace seemed to be shaken free from a train of thought, now looking at Kay and not the middle-distance.
“Oooooh! I’ve also heard some news! We should say ‘em at the same time since they’re probably the same. Ready?” Kay beamed, finally remembering what she heard just a day or so ago.
“Alright.”
“3… 2… 1! Mr. Wright has a kid!”
“Mr. Wright got disbarred! WHAT?” Eustace looked shocked by this, and Kay was surprised for a different reason.
Kay paused for a moment, before replying, “Eustace that happened two or so weeks ago. How did you not hear about it?”
Eustace didn’t reply to that question, replying with another question, “Who gave birth?”
“What?”
“To Mr. Wright’s kid! I mean I thought him and Mr. Edgeworth are dating.”
Kay chuckled at this, before replying to ease his confusion, “Oh! No, Mr. Wright adopted this kid.”
“…Oh! That makes more sense. But yeah I hadn’t heard about Mr. Wright’s disbarment since that’s information I usually get from Mr. Edgeworth but I haven’t been needing as much help recently and when I tried he wasn’t in the office.”
“That makes sense.” Kay looked over at the approaching plates of food, 110% certain that they were for her and Eustace, only for the waiter to walk right past the table and go to some of the other patrons, she was rightfully disappointed. She looked over to her compatriot, as he also seemed disappointed that it wasn’t there food. Over the time that she’d known Eustace, he’d changed so much from that, for lack of a better term, bumbling kid, to much more of an independent man, with a much better fashion sense to boot. Sure, he still does wear the Themis Academy uniform from time to time, since he claims it’s ‘Comfortable,’ which Kay refuses to believe. She’s not sure if he has contacts or just forgets to wear his glasses from time to time but likes his glasses since they frame his face well and match his poofy hair.
As she looks at Eustace, studying his face’s shapes, his round canopy of hair, his vacant half-lidded eyes, and his cute smirk… Oh no. Kay thinks to herself, I thought about him and thought he was cute. I- Oh no. Kay doesn’t realize that she’s been staring at Eustace for a while now, neither does she realize that her cheeks are hot, and her face is red. She gets freed from her own worrying thoughts by Eustace, who just says, “Uh. Kay? Are you alright?”
“Hm? Huh? OH! FiI-ne! Ye- ahem Yeah, I’m fine.” That voice crack did her no favors. Thankfully to save her from answering any questions about why she was staring at him, the food arrived, and she immediately started eating. The burger was as delicious as she expected, and looked over to see Eustace eating as well. She ate significantly faster than he did, He seemed to savor the food much more than she did. She found it cute, no NO! I don’t find it cute and I don’t find him cute! He’s just a friend. She thought to herself to try and silence her own thoughts. It didn’t work.
She tried to distract herself from looking Eustace up and down by eating her food, only to be foiled by her own fast eating habits. She sat back, taking a few deep breaths, realizing that her fast eating has resulted in the hiccups, and that Eustace is only halfway done with his burger, and not even started on the fries. It’s going to be a long lunch, She thought to herself, What changed from a week ago? I- ugh why is he so pretty.
The rest of the lunch? Was agonizingly slow allowing Kay plenty of time to cope with the fact that she finds her former, enemy? Rival? Secret third antagonistic relationship? Now friend attractive, and that she will not speak of this to Edgeworth because he’d do something.
“You were very quiet during lunch, everything good? Normally you’re very chatty and talk the whole time.” Eustace asked as the walked back to the Prosecutor’s office.
“Yeah! I just ate quickly and was out of breath.” Kay lied, sure she ate quickly but that’s something she’s trained and can do without effort.
“Alright.” The two of them make their way back to Eustace’s cramped cubicle, and he finally asks a question that Kay thinks had been plaguing him for a while, “Anything on your mind? You were kinda staring at me earlier.”
“Oh. Uh,” Kay started, immediately stopped, and formulated the best plan possible. She was going to ask Eustace for advice about what she should do for her recently discovered crush on Eustace. Nothing about this plan could go wrong, clearly. “… Guy? … Trouble?”
“Is someone you know in trouble? That’s something you should get a defense attorney for.”
“Not like that kind of trouble, more feelings-y? Ugh.” Kay put her face in her hands to disguise the blush and try and figure out how words work. “There’s a guy I like. That I didn’t realize I liked and I don’t know if he likes me.”
“Okay… and how do I fit into this?” Eustace looked puzzled, wondering what she is talking about.
“You’re a guy, you know guy things… I think.”
“I can try? I’m not good at that whole romance thing so I’m not sure how much help I can be. Plus, you’re good at this! You got Mr. Edgeworth and Mr. Wright together!” Eustace replied, a hint of that confused tone still lingering.
“That was… different. Plus he was still mad at me! And that was me being overly curious and great at talking too much. And the feelings for y- This guy, are very sudden. I’ve known him for a while and we’re good friends. I don’t want to ruin that.” Kay continued to hold her face in her hands as her blush gets deeper.
“Okay. Hm. Have you tried talking to him about it?” Eustace asked.
“N-no… once again these feelings are very sudden, like today sudden. So I haven’t had time to talk about it with him…”
“Okay. So I’ll say. Next time you see him, tell him! It worked for Mr. Edgeworth-“
“With my meddling,”
“Well, yes, but Mr. Edgeworth still told Mr. Wright he liked him on his own.”
“True…”
Eustace returned to the work on his desk, “Hm.”
“Hm?”
“This doesn’t make sense.”
“What doesn’t make sense???” Kay asked slightly panicked wondering if her jig is already up.
“This case!” Ah. False alarm, Kay thought as Eustace complained about his work. She offered her aid, using the work to distract herself from well, herself. It doesn't work, again.