Work Text:
“Ah, I wish I didn't have to go back into the office…”
Phoenix looked at the living room of his and Maya's shared apartment and sighed. On the couch table were snacks and drinks, as well as a package of tea leaves.
Maya, proud she remembered what mixture of tea leaves her guest likes, was already sitting on the couch and eating mini pretzels.
“Yeah, agreed” she said “I could've tried to finally get the two of you together.”
Phoenix cringed. “Sure, because watching The Steel Samurai is the most romantic thing there is.”
He rolled his eyes and ignored the “Of course it is, the wedding between the Steel Samurai and the Pink Princess is the most romantic thing there is!” and continued with “Also, in what world would Edgeworth like me?” He then looked at the watch on his wrist and yelped.
“Shit- Maya, I gotta run. Have fun!”
Phoenix was outside before Maya could reply (especially with all the pretzels in her mouth), almost getting his tie stuck in the door.
Maya shrugged and stayed on the couch, emptying the package of pretzels while waiting for 1pm. Five minutes to one, she got up to put the tea kettle on. Her guest was a very punctual one after all.
She just finished preparing the tea, when the doorbell rang. In front of it was none other than the king of prosecutors, Miles Edgeworth.
“The tea is already finished, it's all in the living room. Let me just get more pretzels and we can start” Maya casually said after taking Edgeworth's jacket and hanging it next to hers and Phoenix’.
“Thank you Miss F- Maya.”
Maya grinned. Even though Edgeworth was at their place once a week for a few months now, it was hard for him to call her by her first name. To him, she was still Phoenix’ assistant and sister, but he is slowly warming up to the thought of them being friends. He was primarily coming over to spend time with her after all.
Edgeworth was already seated, teacup in hand, when Maya returned with a (new) package of pretzels. “What episode did we stop at last week?”
“I think it was Season 4, Episode 2?”
Maya got comfortable on the couch again, while Edgeworth turned on the TV. The familiar intro of The Steel Samurai started playing and both of them were immediately glued to the screen.
Finding out both of them liked the show had been the best day for Maya, while for Edgeworth, it had been the most embarrassing. The only people who knew of his love for the show were his father and Phoenix after all, with the latter forgetting due to his lack of interest in it.
Maya was complaining about Phoenix and said lack of interest, with Edgeworth nodding as he remembered their watch parties where Phoenix was always the first one to fall asleep, when the spiky haired suggested that Edgeworth should just come over to watch it with Maya the day after. On the next day, Phoenix almost fainted when the prosecutor ACTUALLY showed up at his door.
What initially was meant as a joke ended up being a weekly routine for both Maya and Edgeworth.
Maya knew it was quite nice for Phoenix and his big ass crush on Miles to see him more often than they usually would. And even though nobody would believe her, Maya was quite convinced that the prosecutor looked at Phoenix just the same. But when someone's view was slipping away from The Steel Samurai, just to stare at someone else in the room, then it has to be serious!
Well, that and other things such as “Unnecessary Feelings”. What confused her was how rude he sometimes was.
“It really is sad that Nick couldn't join us today,” Maya suddenly blurted out after the first episode of the day. Edgeworth actually looked away from the TV, just to hide his face from Maya and murmured “Agreed. Such a shame.”
Suddenly, Edgeworth's phone buzzed. Obviously thankful for the distraction, he quickly checked the screen and Maya watched with widening eyes how his face immediately lit up.
Edgeworth, who was currently unlocking his phone, was having a huge smile on his face.
Shocked at how the prosecutor could look like, Maya tried to discreetly see what made him smile like that and what she saw was an open chat with someone whose profile picture looked very familiar…
Maya excused herself to the bathroom, only to grab her phone and retreat into the kitchen, quickly typing a message.
You
nick??
are you texting edgeworth rn??
like currently
It didn’t take Phoenix long until he replied with a “yes”, making Maya grin. She very quietly walked back to the living room to see Edgeworth still smiling. Back in the kitchen, she continued texting.
You
dude he’s smiling at his phone so hard rn
Nick
aw stop my heart
You
i’m not kidding he’s smiling so much
it’s honestly kinda freaking me out ngl
when are you coming back??
Nick
aww he’s so adorable
i’m actually getting ready to leave, the client didn’t have a lot to say to me before the trial tomorrow, it was honestly super unnecessary.
…
can you find out why he’s smiling?? and maybe take a picture too?
You
it’s obviously because he’s texting you, but okay
i’m gonna show this screenshot at your wedding
i knew I was right about his feelings
please don’t get into an accident on your way home
Maya didn’t even wait for Phoenix’ reply and returned to the living room with a mission. If this adorable but also terrifying face was not gonna be the reason they got together, Maya didn’t know what would.
So instead of continuing with their weekly The Steel Samurai session, Maya turned the TV off completely. Edgeworth, whose face had returned to its usual frown, raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
“And what are you doing?”
Confident in her abilities to interrogate, Maya put her hands on his shoulders and looked him straight into his eyes.
“Miles Edgeworth” she said “What were you doing just now?”
Confused, Edgeworth looked back at the spirit medium in training and replied “Replying to a text message. Why?”
“You were texting Nick, right?”
Still not understanding what Maya wanted to know, Edgeworth just nodded.
“You, Miles Edgeworth, have a crush on Phoenix Wright, right?”
With that, the prosecutor flinched and his cheeks turned red, while Maya just smirked. Phoenix always tried to check for subtle hints but never found some. In Maya's opinion, direct confrontation was the only way after all. And judging by Edgeworth’s current attempts to hide his face and reaction, she had been right the whole time.
“Ngh! Miss F- Maya, why would you ask such a ridiculous question? Who would have a crush on that man anyway? What-”
Maya just laughed, patting him on the back. He stared at her, face bright red, and shook his head “I thought you knew how to properly make a statement, Miss Fey. Do you have proof of me harboring feelings for… Wright?”
Instead of replying, she laughed even harder, almost falling off the couch, while Edgeworth looked away once again, trying to stop blushing.
She was so happy about being right, she couldn't stop herself for a while.
After Maya finally stopped laughing and was able to talk without wheezing, she let her hand rest on his shoulder again and calmly said “Look Edgeworth… It's tiring to watch Nick go crazy, trying to figure out if you feel the same… I've been trying to make him confess for months now…”
She smiled softly.
“At first I was convinced that you liked him too, but then you sometimes ended up being so cold towards him that I had my doubts. But that smile you had earlier? I know you were texting him and not looking at some updated autopsy report or something.”
Edgeworth sighed and just nodded. Nobody was hearing the keys unlocking the apartment door when the prosecutor admitted “Yes, I have had feelings for Wright ever since we were children.”
They suddenly heard something heavy fall and immediately turned their heads to see Phoenix standing in the living room, still in his jacket and shoes, keys now on the floor. His eyes were big in shock while being fixated on Edgeworth who was blushing once again.
Maya gasped, trying to hide her satisfied smirk, and got up, yelling I think the two of you need to talk! and ran into her room.
At first, the two attorneys were just looking at each other. Edgeworth, feeling terrified as well as a little bit relieved due to keeping those feelings buried deep inside him for over 15 years, was waiting for the world to just collapse. He was thinking about everything and nothing, trying to ignore his fast heartbeat and his hot face.
When Phoenix finally broke the silence, his face was red too. He cleared his throat before asking if he could sit beside Edgeworth. Miles just scooched over instead of replying with words, and watched as his friend sat down. They had broken eye contact for a bit, but immediately resumed when they were next to each other. It was quiet for another few minutes, where both realized how close they suddenly were.
“Wright.”
This time, Edgeworth felt like he had to say the first word.
“I'm sorry.”
Before he knew it, Phoenix was grabbing his shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug, whispering “Why would you apologize?” Even Edgeworth was shocked over his choice of words. It was a thought he had hid away for years and the first thing he says was sorry?
Were von Karma's words still haunting him? Did he still think that he couldn't love Phoenix, who only deserved the best? But why couldn't he be that person? Was it that he only deserved resentment and loneliness for prosecuting so many people? Or for liking someone of the same gender?
As if the defense attorney knew that Edgeworth had started spiraling, Phoenix held him tighter and finally continued talking “Edgeworth, the last thing I want to hear from you is an apology. I don't care if it's for you or for me, you have nothing to apologize for. You hear me, Miles?”
The usage of his first name woke him up and he softly pushed him away to look at him. Miles was looking from Phoenix' blue eye to his brown eye. He remembered how he had stopped in his tracks the first time he noticed Wright's heterochromia and just stared at him, trying to understand why he thought it looked so beautiful.
Seeing those eyes so close to him reminded him of what Maya had said earlier. A crush? No, Edgeworth didn't have a crush on that man.
It went way deeper than that.
Those eyes, that clumsiness, that spiky hair, that confidence. He had known for years, and he wanted to finally accept it without any second thoughts so that he didn't blurt out any more apologies.
“Wright, I-”
“Edgeworth, I've been in love with you since we were kids too.”
It was quiet for the third time, and they just stared at each other once again, when Edgeworth suddenly felt something wet on his lap. He was confused about what it was before his whole body started shaking and he sniveled, then he finally understood that Oh, I'm crying.
He found himself back into a hug almost immediately, letting the dam finally break. All those suppressed feelings came to see the light in the form of tears and whispered “I love you”s. It didn't take long until Phoenix was weeping as well, and they hugged each other even tighter.
They knew each other for only four months when they were kids.
Then Miles Edgeworth just disappeared, which left a big hole in Phoenix Wright's heart. It might've been a silly little crush back then, but the older he got, his feelings got bigger to the point that he had changed his whole career path just to see him again.
Meanwhile, Edgeworth was told that it wasn't normal to like another boy, so he forced himself to not think about that boy with the different colored eyes. Every letter by said boy he had seen was put into a shoebox hidden underneath his bed, untouched.
To both, seeing each other after 15 years was emotional and heavy. But to actually have it said out loud that those feelings both of them had harbored 15 years ago were reciprocated back then and were still present now was an even harder pill to swallow.
They were celebrating their mutual understanding and feelings while also mourning the time they had missed. That they didn't necessarily have to miss.
Just the knowledge that even after 15 years, even after only knowing each other for a few months, they ended up falling hard and trusted each other enough to get to this point.
At some point, Phoenix and Edgeworth had stopped crying but still held onto each other, scared that if one of them let go, the other would disappear and turn into thin air.
“So… now what?” Phoenix quietly asked. He had laid his head sideways onto Edgeworth's shoulder and he was breathing right into his neck which made him shudder.
Miles, who only had his forehead against the other's shoulder, just smiled and shrugged. “How about I take you out to dinner?”
Phoenix hummed and then carefully separated them. He was still smiling softly when he shook his head. “I think we're way past that. Pucker up, Lover Boy.”
Before Edgeworth could say anything, Phoenix had pressed their lips together.
Softly, carefully.
The kiss didn't last too long, but long enough to let Edgeworth relax and melt into it. Its end was immediately met with the question “Miles Edgeworth, will you be my boyfriend?”, and it was replied with another kiss.
Later, after the sun had already set, the new couple was cuddling comfortably on the couch, silently processing what had happened. But then, Phoenix started grinning and looked up from Edgeworth's chest.
“So a little bird told me you were smiling earlier while texting someone?”
“I'm surprised said little bird hasn't come out of her room since she left.” Edgeworth said, thinking about how curious and noisy Maya could be if she wanted. Additionally, he felt like he had to thank her for bringing up his feelings for Phoenix and letting all this happen.
“She's probably busy watching The Steel Samurai-”
“SHE IS WHAT?”
So, the day ended with Edgeworth bursting into Maya's room, who indeed was watching their favorite series without him, and then all three of them on the for sleep prepared couch in the living room. And if Edgeworth felt nostalgic when Phoenix cuddled up to him, snoring softly, while the Steel Samurai was fighting the Evil Magistrate once again, and couldn't resist to give him a little kiss and smile, then it was his business and his business alone.