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“Uncle Miles? When are you moving in with us?”
Miles almost chokes on his pancakes. He holds a napkin in front of his mouth and stares at Trucy, coughing. The teenager is staring right back, grinning, but with a serious look on her face.
“I... What?”
“Oh, good, I thought you were dying there. So, when?”
“I … won't move in with you!” This thought is absurd. He briefly glances left and right, taking a look at Wright's apartment only to be reassured: This thought is absurd. His home is not as messy as his agency, but it's … fitting for Wright. Located in the same street as the agency, no less, and he doesn't like this vicinity. At all. Absurd.
“Hm.” Trucy crosses her arms and thinks for a moment. “I guess your apartment is nicer.” She nods, then flashes him another big grin. “Okay! When will Daddy and I move in with you?”
Miles manages to takes his eyes off her only to stare down at his half-eaten pancake. His face feels hot. “Why do you...” He stops and shakes his head. He didn't even know Wright told her that they were...
She can read his mind. “Daddy told me that you two are together now! He already told me after your first date. The one that … doesn't count.”
He lifts his head and looks at her. “He did say that?”
“Don't worry, uncle Miles. Whenever he talked about you he had this look in his eyes, I knew that he loves you.”
Loves me? Loves?
“Trucy, slow down, please! We're just...” Dating, he wanted to say, but now he finds himself staring at her again. Daddy told me that you two are together now? Together?
“I don't mind Daddy being with another man! I mean, I know that I always said he should hurry and find me another Mommy, but I'm happy if he's happy, and you're a good match! Everyone in my class thinks you're good-looking.”
“... Wait, what?! Don't tell me you went and told all your friends that Wright and I are-”
“So, I'm perfectly fine with you. Oh, can I call you Daddy, too?”
“Wha- … Trucy, no!”
“Dad?” She tilts her head a little. “I think it would be weird if I called Daddy Daddy and you too. Dad. Or, oh! I could call you Papa! I mean, Daddy was Papa too, with his blue beanie, you know the one, but-”
“Trucy!” He's sounding almost desperate now, and he doesn't even care.
She stops and looks at him with her big blue eyes. “Yes?”
“I...” God, Wright, why are you attending an investigation now? “I think I need to sort some things out with you. First of all, please refrain from calling me anything but uncle Miles.” It took him long enough to get used to that. “Second, you and Wright will not move in with me, because third, we have been on a few dates, yes, but we are not, like you put it, together.” The look on Trucy's face is starting to get more and more disappointed, but he can't stop. “Forth, please tell me that you didn't tell your friends that your father and I are a couple.”
It's her turn now to look down at her pancakes. “No, of course not. I knew you'd be uncomfortable with it. But... But you and Daddy are a couple!”
I should have just left with Wright, he thinks. This is a disaster. This whole conversation is a mess.
“We are not, Trucy. I'm sorry, but-”
“But, don't you know about the three dates rule?! You've been on three dates by now, right?”
He takes a moment to think and then nods. “I think we were, yes. What about it?”
“The rule!”
“What rule?”
“... Really?”
“What, Trucy?” He doesn't want to sound so impatient, but he can't help it.
“Three dates, then you can fu- errr, have sex? I thought you were the type to specify the connection to someone as relationship as soon as you, you know...”
Miles stares at her, and suddenly the heat is back in his face. “Wh- What? Who establishes such a ludicrous rule?!”
“I don't know. Shall I google it?”
“No! We- I mean, we...”
“Huh?”
“...” Miles has no idea what to say. Members of the Wright family are the only people who truly accomplish to leave him speechless – time after time. “... Trucy, we are not together. We are not a couple. And our … our … level of intimacy is none of your concern, really.”
“... So you didn't do the do yet?”
“Trucy!”
“But-”
“Has Wright told you that we are a couple?”
“No, but I can put two and two together, you know?”
“Trucy, we... We're not...”
“Don't you love my Daddy?”
“... What?”
“You do love him, right?”
Miles stares at her, feeling completely helpless now. Do I? “I... care about your father, of course, but...”
“Will you marry some day? Gay couples can marry now!”
“... I know, I pay attention to new laws being passed down. Also, this isn't news. It's been years.”
“You make love sound really boring, uncle Miles.”
Please, Wright, come back.
“Anyway, I think you should marry. And then we move in with you, of course.”
Wright, you've always been so keen on saving me. Save me now, please.
“Maybe we can get a kitten, then! Pess would have someone to play with! And if they fight, I just let one of them disappear into my magic panties!”
“Trucy, I don't even like cats.”
“Then a puppy, maybe. Awwww, just imagine it!”
No. I really don't want to think that far. I might happen to find a new trigger for a panic attack, otherwise.
“You and Daddy could buy a few chickens. We'd always have fresh eggs for pancakes, and-”
“Trucy!”
“... Huh?” She looks a little startled.
“Which part of 'Wright and I are not a couple' is so hard do understand?!” His voice is a little louder now, and for a moment, he's terrified at the thought that his words might make her cry, but she simply crosses her arms again and looks at him.
“But what is it that you want from Daddy then?”
“What … do you mean?”
“Look, uncle Miles, dating is fine and everything, but do you think this has prospects? Because you know, Daddy is getting older.”
“... Trucy, we've been on a few dates, why can't you just let us take our time? We … are taking it slow, okay?”
“Yeah, but, you know, it's just … I don't want to see Daddy sad. The two of you dating … I mean, that's what he wanted for … twenty-six years.”
“It's not like we were madly in love since the age of nine.”
“... You weren't, maybe.”
Miles stares at her. Is she being serious?
“Back when Daddy had lost his badge. When he came back from the bar association. He... I heard him cry, you know?”
Trucy's smile is gone. The look in her eyes is all too serious, too hurt. She looks like the young girl she was back then, having just lost her real father. Wright took care of her because there was no one else to do it, and … and she heard him cry. This serious expression in her eyes. Like a reflection from the past. The expression of a child that had to grow up way too soon. Miles suddenly realizes that he's clutching the edge of the table with both hands, and he also realizes that right now, Trucy reminds him of himself in a way that hurts very, very much.
“He cried a lot during this time. He didn't even talk to aunt Maya. And then you stood in front of our door, out of nowhere, and he looked at you and … just fell around your neck. I don't know if either of you realized, but I saw you two. Daddy cried then, too, but it was something else, somehow. It felt healthier. The crying. And you just stood there and held him and … he was better, after that.”
Miles looks at her, silently now.
“I don't know.” She sighs. “I don't want to push anything between Daddy and you.” Her smile is back, but it doesn't seem as honest now. “Just … try not to hurt Daddy, okay?”
He looks down at his plate, then back at Trucy. “I... I wouldn't … date your father if I didn't think that this … thing between us has prospects. And I can assure you that the last thing I'd want is to hurt Wright.”
Trucy's smile grows a little wider. “Really? Promise?”
Miles suppresses a sigh. This is pointless. Of course he doesn't want to hurt Wright, but he can hardly promise that it won't ever happen. But she's a teenager. “... Yes, I promise.”
“Thank you, uncle Miles.” She seems genuinely relieved.
He simply nods and then looks down at his plate again, deciding to finally finish his pancake.
“I still think we could get some chickens, though!”
~
When Phoenix returns home, he's a little surprised to find that Miles is still there. He would have thought he'd leave after breakfast. But there he is, sitting at the kitchen table next to Trucy.
“The problem is that you used the wrong formula to begin with. What you're dealing with here is a hyperbolic cosine.”
“Ahhhh.” She taps on her calculator and shows Miles the display.
“Yes. Like that.”
“Thank you, uncle Miles!”
“You're welcome.”
Phoenix smiles and closes the door. They both turn at the sound.
“Hey, Daddy!”
“Hey, Truce.”
“Wright. How did the investigation go?”
“Good. This case is as good as solved.”
“Good to hear.” Miles hesitates, then stands. He slowly walks over to him and grips Phoenix's suit, pulling him into the living room and … closing the door?
“We need to talk, Wright.”
Phoenix feels like a huge stone just crashed right into his heart. Full speed. God. What have I done wrong?
“O- Okay. Do I … need to sit down?” He tries to sound as casual as possible.
Please, if he really plans on ending this dating partners thing, I at least want to stay friends. Don't let him disappear to Europe again.
Miles … stares at him, not saying anything.
“... Miles?”
“... Yes.”
“You … said we need to talk?”
“Yes. … Wright, we're ...” He sounds … almost insecure, Phoenix thinks. But before he can inquire further, Miles resumes talking, and suddenly the insecurity is gone. Replaced by something like passive-aggression. “We're not children, Wright! We're old enough to stick a label to whatever this is. It's so childish of you to just speak of dating!”
Phoenix tries to follow, he really does, but he feels lost. He feels like he just went back into the movie theater after the break, only to find himself in the wrong room with the wrong movie being played. “... Huh?”
Miles crosses his arms and furrows his brows. “Do you want to have a relationship with me?!”
“Uh...” He blinks. “... Yes. I mean, I-”
“Good, then you're my boyfriend now with immediate effect. Just deal with it, Wright! God.” He stares at him for another second, then he turns around. “I'll have to go now.”
“O-kay. … I'll call you.” That was one huge baby step just now.
And with that, Miles just goes, leaving the door open for Trucy to storm in, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Daddy!” She grips his hand. “Come on, we'll go have Eldoon's!”
“Uh … what?” I have … no idea what happened just now. “I haven't won a trial, Truce.”
“But you won uncle Miles' heart! Officially now, I mean!”
He looks at her. “Have you been eavesdropping, young lady?”
“Doesn't matter!” She drags him into the hallway. “Come on! Ha-ha, the Grand Trucy is just the best!”
Phoenix doesn't quite like the sound of that. “Trucy … about Miles and … what he said. … What have you done?”
Trucy still grins. “Nothing, Daddy. I just pulled the best trick ever. Accidentally. I'm a natural!”