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‘This rain won't let up, will it?’ That’s what Miles thought as he started down the stairs, the many flights of steps that clack his shoes as he hears the drip drops of the outside onto the window.
Normally, this isn’t an issue pertaining to Miles.
Normally, he’d have a car to drive back to his apartment to stay nice, dry and warm. And he’d have a sturdy umbrella to use to shield him when he stepped outside. Perfectly up to the standard of Miles’ proper planning for these kinds of predicaments.
Except his car was currently at a mechanic's, being finely tuned up for a yearly check up; another of Miles’ planning where he expects all of his belongings and items to be cleaned or sure to work well in case of an emergency.
Normally , he’d thank himself for being so prepared.
Now he’s simply cursing at himself when he reaches the front door of the prosecutor’s office and is met with what just looks like showers upon showers of water pitter pattering against the sidewalk.
No one is attempting that kind of weather. Who would? (Unless you happen to be a Kay Faraday and are okay with getting sick the next day.)
But Miles sighs. He doesn’t have much choice in the matter.
Well, technically he does. The weatherman said it’d clear up in three hours. And he could stay in the office until eight to get extra work done. He’s not even entirely concerned with the overtime hours that come with it, likely not even clocking them in because his work is much more important than any extra pay will provide.
It’s not that.
It’s the new Steel Samurai episode that gives him pause however. Or rather, it’s the Steel Samurai: Final Frontier Finale. He’s been patiently waiting for this episode to come out. It had been nearly a whole month since the last episode, and Edgeworth was sure he had made sure he’d get all his preparations in by the time the episode comes out at seven tonight.
Even clocking out at five to make sure that the Japanifornia traffic would not impede on him.
Alas, that doesn’t seem to have helped him. Even if the traffic has slowed due to the rain, does he really want to go through the rain? That was truly the question.
Attempt his way to basically was a thunderstorm to get to this one finale?
It’s not as if he couldn’t just… watch it online after an hour it premiered. That’s an option. He could watch it everywhere too. Laptop, office break room, etc.
Edgeworth definitely didn’t dismiss the idea immediately because he simply wished to carry the sanctity of being a one and true fan, and be it in the comfort of his own home with Pess. Definitely not…
…Truly.
So that’s why Edgeworth found himself on the streets. Attempting to walk home with an umbrella that was blowing away from his behind and is on the verge of breaking. While his coat and shoes are getting sprinkles of the water droplets and his glasses clearly have seen better days.
This was now his life. For the next ten to fifteen minutes. Pathetically so to himself.
It’s not so bad once he gets to downtown, where all the shops luckily have refuge through the awning. But there’s a point where he starts regretting having left the prosecutor’s office, because he feels like a wet cat hiding in a literal waterfall. Though, contrary to his own belief, he’s relatively done a good job from getting super damp.
But then, once the rain seemed to lessen in its harshness, he started down the street again.
And then, he’d guess what happened next in a heartbeat because of how awful this journey home is.
His umbrella is snatched by the wind. Now flinging away from his primary direction and absolutely being even more useless than his car. He groans, quickly trying to pull down on the umbrella into closing, but quickly pushed back by the wind. His hair was now feeling wet to the touch as Edgeworth grumbled, trying to pull the umbrella back up again.
When he hears a familiar voice…
“Edgeworth!”
He turns back to see a blue blur coming towards him from down the street. He squints. He has to know who that is.
‘Oh, it’s him,’ he thinks to himself.
But he can’t help it.
Maybe it’s the warm summer humidity that clashed with the coolness of the rain.
Maybe it’s the once pent up frustration with his umbrella.
Maybe he’s just imagining things!
But the pitter patter of rain isn’t enough to hide the loud splashes of footsteps towards Miles, seeing his tan arms with rolled sleeves that get enveloped by the rain, drops drip from his face with a cheeky grin and colorful eyes that feel so happy to look at the burgundy man before them.
He’s there. Wright there.
And as he comes up, Edgeworth also notices this. His friend’s footsteps immediately came up to a stop, a little too suddenly. That suddenness causes the shoes to slip onto the sidewalk and now, his friend is falling towards him, a little shift in his expression made it likely to Edgeworth that he was about to hit the ground.
So instinct simply takes over. With his hand occupied by the damning umbrella and the other reaching out to take Wright’s shoulder to pull towards him.
That man looked not surprised as he was pulled in, as if he knew that Edgeworth would catch him.
‘Preposterous.’ Edgeworth thought. ‘He trusts me too much.’
Does he now, though?
It’s a trust never misplaced, though. The prosecutor can feel the weight of a defense lawyer on him and the vibrations of laughter fill his chest. It’s invigorating, really. This shaking in himself makes him feel like an out of body experience. How could it happen after all? Wright and him were friends, sure. But did they touch each other in such close proximity?
Well, then again… it mainly was due to Edgeworth’s wishes to remain… professional. He couldn’t be selfish afterall. Ask for more than he’s already given. This moment now feels like it’s giving too much. Especially not selfish to the one with the man that had saved him, who trusted him to find the truth.
And those thoughts immediately vanished as he felt grounded back into the world.
A hand lays against his shoulder. Gentle fingers curl up firmly and a great smile looks back at him. “Hahah! Nice catch, Edgeworth!” Wright gleefully remarks, himself pulling closer to the prosecutor as he hovers his jacket over the two.
Edgeworth finds himself smirking, replying back with, “I can’t say the same for you, Wright. You were quite ready to plant your face into the ground, weren’t you?”
“Ugh, shut up,” Blue and brown eyes rolled away as Wright scoffed. “ You’re making an annoying rebuttal, and I was just about to shield you from the rain.”
“That seems quite unnecessary now, considering we’re both soaked.”
“I guess… but hey! You can keep using the jacket to get even more wet.”
Edgeworth sighed, feeling himself grip the man’s shoulder even more as he pulled him in. “And what use would that be?”
“Well, it’d be faster than using your garbage umbrella, for sure.” Wright smiled, a water droplet tilting away from his face. “Plus, we can’t have you missing your episode, now can we?”
Miles’ eyes widened. His face going slack with shock, and now he felt himself stammering, “W-w-what?! How did you–”
“Edgeworth, I know . Everyone in my office knows about Steel Samurai. That’s why they’re not out here with me, getting absolutely waterfall-ed on with you.” Wright said flatly, looking rather unimpressed.
“Hmph. How astute of you, Wright. Quite impressive,” Edgeworth smirked, deepening as he saw that man scoff.
Wright poked at Edgeworth’s chest, “Hey, considering the fact I was coming to pick you up, maybe be a little nicer to your savior, huh?”
‘Savior, huh? Coming from the man with a complex of sorts.’
Then Edgeworth winces. Not because of any pain to his chest or some kind of hurt. But because he said… whatever he just said. “Wh…why didn’t you simply go home? You could’ve avoided this… atrocious storm.”
“And would you be able to avoid the storm without me?”
The question made Edgeworth pause. He could have actually. Logically speaking, he could’ve just walked home from this point. No matter what, he was getting soaked from the rain all day. There was no point. There isn’t a point.
‘It was not necessary. Unnecessary.’
But then he looks at Wright, and he can’t feel the need to say that. Not with his crooked brows looking up at him with one raised higher than the other. Not with the rain pushing down on him and Edgeworth, pushing the two to feel each other lean into one another. Not like that. Instead he says, “I wouldn’t not be able to avoid the storm.”
Wright looks back with an incredulous look to his face. But then, his eyes widened, his mouth immediately turning clamped closed.
The prosecutor simply sighed but said nothing more on the matter. “I’m more surprised you had inherently trusted me to stop your fall.”
“Why wouldn’t I trust you?”
“I’m not exactly reliably trustworthy.”
“Isn’t your whole job about–”
“I’m not talking about that, Wright.”
“But you’re wrong then!” The aggressiveness in Wright’s voice immediately shifted something in him. Like a click to a lock being opened. He tried not to think about it. The immediacy in his voice. The punctuation in ‘you’re’ . The warm breath onto the side of his neck makes Miles’ feel his shoulders shake briefly. Not the wind, or the rain. Him .
‘Good god, I can’t be having this conversation right now.’
But he still does. Because he asks, “Am I trustworthy?”
“ Absolutely ,” Wright says. His face morphing into something so admirably soft and yet cloying. “I think the real question is whether you can trust me!” He laughed, but Edgeworth pouted back.
“Of course I can trust you,” Edgeworth groused, feeling immediately defensive. “In what world I wouldn’t trust you?”
Wright looked quite taken back, his face looking surprised. Then, his friend looked off into the distance where a fog seemingly took over blocks away, suddenly having a wistful point into his voice. “I… I don’t know.”
Edgeworth huffed.
They were both quiet for a while, looking away from each other with flushed ears and peachy cheeks. Not even attempting to move away from the rain and instead…
Instead just here.
“I’m sorry that I doubted that you trust me,” Wright said.
“Don’t be. It has led to… an interesting conclusion,” Edgeworth said simply, looking back at that man despite the action not being reciprocated.
Wright squinted his eyes, looking back at Edgeworth. “What… kind of conclusion?” He asked suspiciously.
“Well, I suspect both of us have something we aren’t saying.”
For a moment, he felt like he just said something incredibly stupid . So amazingly dumb that Franziska would probably not hesitate to smack him with her whip.
‘I’m making an assumption, aren’t I?’
‘This is ridiculous. What am I doing?’
‘I am a fool !’
And then, Wright immediately blooms into the color of a strawberry. His eyes widened. His hand holding his jacket hovering over his mouth as it voice stammers to Edgeworth. “W-wh-wh, y-you do?!”
‘You do.’
‘You.’
‘ You .’ No longer did he think that this was professional now. It stopped being one the moment they met each other again. It was never professional when they were in each other’s world.
“Yes. Yes, I do. And you do too.”
The pitter patter of rain is all they hear. There isn’t really a way to hear what happens next. There’s not a footstep. Maybe half closer than before, or maybe a little more. Or maybe it’s a slip. A slip closer.
Perhaps! It felt like they were just a tinge closer than before. Somehow. Incredibly so. It’s not as if they were already so very close before.
But maybe now, they’re even closer. Ignoring the rain as it drips from their faces.
So close that the moment they both tilt their heads, their lips are already in motion to slide into one another. For a moment, they don’t.
It’s instead their eyes that look dauntingly at each other. It’s hesitant. It’s scared. Why wouldn’t they be? They just admitted it all, didn’t they? The repercussions will certainly weigh on them more!
And yet, why wait even longer? Why wait for the clouds to keep hiding away what is logical and what is safe and what feels so right? Why keep waiting?
And they don’t.
A clunk of an umbrella immediately follows as Miles brings his free hand around that man's waist, immediately gripping a wet waistcoat and tugging insistently. The immediacy of warm lips onto his own is enough for him to huff breath air, to feel the tightness around them as they press even deeper into one another.
To encourage him, Phoenix immediately grabs both of Miles’ shoulders and insistently pulls him forward. And even to lean more forward, Phoenix pushed in. Pulling his weight onto Miles’ chest as he allows his hands to roam against Edgeworth’s back. Fingers that trail over the shoulder to the neck, to the nape and finally, the head, where they gently slide into Miles’ hair and tug.
Miles finds himself out of breath so quickly, and yet, he can’t find himself to stop. And frankly, he knows Phoenix can’t either when that man groans at every push, shove into each other.
But they eventually do stop, when the forces of nature ring deathly on their ears. The sound of thunder coming closer makes the two gasp for air and look up.
The rain wasn’t ending any time soon, and these two were never going to dry up outside. Miles’ looked back at Phoenix, and what stared back were gentle eyes and a breathless mouth.
“I hope you’ll allow me to take you home, Wright.”
“Only if you let me carry the jacket for us.” Phoenix grinned, to which Edgeworth rolled his eyes.
“In the awful weather, I’d rather you carry me.”
“Would you?”
Edgeworth stared at him with lowered eyes. “Absolutely not, you’d just fall over yourself again.” The two found themselves laughing, Phoenix with a loud chortle and Miles with a hearty snicker.
Miles acquiesce Phoenix’s waist to pick up the umbrella, and grabs that lawyer’s hand, leading him down the street. “Now, don’t stall us on our way back to my house. Otherwise, we’ll be late.”
Phoenix blinks, but quickly smiles and grips the hand he is given back. “Of course, we can’t allow that, Miles.”
The prosecutor found himself holding Phoenix’s hand tighter as they rushed down the street, the nearly quiet and yet so disturbing rain following suit.
