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Phoenix woke with a gasp, stress tensing his back, his hands twisting in the sheets. He must have had some stress dream, probably about work, but any details were hazy and slipping away from him. The room was silent and dark, the only light coming from a streetlamp outside. He was too worked up to go back to sleep, his heart pounding, and he rolled over to see --
No one.
Phoenix frowned at the empty half of the bed where Miles should be. It wasn't exactly unusual for his husband to get up for some reason or another in the middle of the night, but this felt different, somehow. That side of the bed was cold when he touched it, and there was some quality missing that Phoenix couldn't put his finger on.
He felt a little foolish, realizing that he wasn't going to get back to sleep easily without finding Miles, so he dragged himself out of the covers and pulled on the t-shirt he had been wearing yesterday. Stumbling out into the hall of the too-large and too-fancy house, he pushed open the door to Miles' home office. If Miles left the bed, it was usually because something at work was still irritating him enough that he couldn't rest. When that happened, it was usually up to Phoenix to pull him away from his desk like a cat being dragged away from a treat, hissing and clawing.
The office stretched before Phoenix, dark and empty, the tall bookcases and ostentatious desk seeming weirdly ominous in the shadows. That feeling of dread in Phoenix's chest skyrocketed, even though he knew he was just being silly. There were other places in the house that Miles could be. He might have needed to use the bathroom, or get a glass of water, or...
Checking the bathrooms, the kitchen, and the living room yielded no sight of Miles, and now Phoenix's nerves were impossible to calm. Could he have left entirely? Maybe there was some work-related emergency in the middle of the night? It wouldn't be the first time. But when that did happen, he would always wake Phoenix up to let him know where he was going, grumbling all the while while he put on his suit and combed through his hair, managing to look way too presentable for having woken up at ass o'clock in the morning.
Phoenix couldn't remember being woken by a grouchy Miles, nor was there a note on the table or counter. It didn't make any sense. Where could he be? Where would he go without telling Phoenix?
...Was he gone? Gone out of Phoenix's life again without so much as a goodbye, even though it shouldn't be possible for him to do that now, even though he'd promised he wouldn't?
Phoenix swallowed hard. He'd checked just about everywhere except for Trucy's room. He didn't want to wake his daughter, but this was serious, and she often stayed up far later than she should -- another bad habit she'd picked up from her dads. Maybe she had seen something. The house seemed enormous as he walked, his footsteps echoing loudly and the hallway stretching on for miles.
He knocked once, then twice, and getting no answer, opened the door to Trucy's room, only to find that it was empty too.
Phoenix recoiled in alarm. Trucy was missing, too? Where could they be? Did something terrible happen, some kidnapping for ransom. Or had they both left, leaving Phoenix alone and --
"Phoenix."
There was a hand on his shoulder, startling him out of his skin, but when he turned around, no one was there.
"Phoenix!"
Phoenix gasped as his eyes flew open.
He was back in his bed, just as it had been when he thought he'd woken up a few minutes ago, but this time, there was a firm hand shaking his shoulder. Phoenix rolled over and found himself staring into concerned gray eyes.
"Miles," he said, the dread finally easing its grip on his heart. Miles was right there, and he was real, and he didn't even look that annoyed, considering Phoenix's ridiculous nightmare had woken them both up. "Thank fucking god. It was just a nightmare." He scooted in closer, burying himself in his husband's chest while taking a deep breath to try and get his heart to calm down.
"Yes, I could tell," Miles said, wrapping an arm around Phoenix.
"Sorry I woke you."
Miles scoffed. "There's nothing to apologize for. I would be an awful hypocrite to chastise you for that, considering how often I've woken you up with my own night terrors."
That much was true. According to Miles, he had nightmares far less frequently now than he used to, but that didn't mean it never happened -- and inconveniently, they happened most often when Miles was especially swamped with work and needed the sleep.
"It sounded bad," said Miles, more softly. "What was it about?"
Phoenix glanced up at him, knowing that telling Miles about his dream would only make him feel guilty for things he had done long ago, back when his personal demons had seemed insurmountable. "It was nothing. A stupid dream, really."
Miles' glare was obvious even in the darkness. "Phoenix. You know I can't let that answer stand. It's obvious that whatever it was shook you, and if the tables were turned, you wouldn't allow me to simply stew in it."
"I guess not," Phoenix admitted. "Leave it to you to interrogate me in the middle of the night." He closed his eyes for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "I woke up and you weren't there -- in the nightmare. I searched everywhere in the house and couldn't find you. I told you it was stupid."
The arm wrapped around Phoenix tightened. "...I don't think that's stupid."
"I couldn't figure out where you had gone, and I thought maybe you had..." Phoenix can't finish it. "And when I opened the door to Trucy's room, she was gone too. Like you had both been kidnapped."
"I'm absolutely sure that Trucy is safely in her room right now," said Miles. "But if you feel as though you need to check for your own peace of mind, or if you want me to check..."
"You don't need to do that." Phoenix was irritated with himself and how long it was taking for him to calm down now that he knew it was only a nightmare. Checking Trucy's room would just be giving in to the fear, and besides, he didn't want to haul himself out of bed. He could ignore that little voice in the back of his head whispering that maybe his fear was trying to tell him something, that maybe she really was gone --
"Very well," said Miles, pulling himself free of Phoenix and tossing on a shirt and slippers.
"I said that you don't need to do that."
"And the look on your face said otherwise."
"Yeah, but -- I'm just being ridiculous. You know I am."
"Of course you're being ridiculous. You're incapable of anything else," said Miles with that old, familiar hint of fondness in his voice. "I'll only be gone a minute, and then we can get back to sleep."
"All right. Thanks." Phoenix still felt foolish as Miles stepped out of the room. He was left alone in the bed, but it wasn't at all like the nightmare. The warmth from where Miles had been sleeping was still there, as was the faint scent of his soap and hair and skin. Phoenix realized that that was what had been missing from the nightmare, the reason why Miles' absence had seemed so alarming, the fact that their shared bed no longer smelled like him.
Soon enough, Miles had returned, climbing back into bed. "I've verified that Trucy is sound asleep," he said, "although she has managed to knock half the covers off her bed and turned the other half into a snarled knot that might be impossible to undo."
"She must get that from you," said Phoenix, wrapping his arms around Miles as soon as he was in reach.
"Hmph," he said with a barely-perceptible smile, allowing Phoenix to cling.
There was a hand firmly planted on Phoenix's back, rubbing it in slow circles. Phoenix recognized the gesture -- it was something he had often done for Miles when Miles woke up with a panic attack. He could still vividly remember the first time it had happened when he was in bed with Miles. Phoenix had known exactly what was going on, but it had still been a shock to see Miles terrified and short of breath, curling into himself, his eyes staring past Phoenix into the distance, his mind a thousand miles away. Phoenix had rubbed Miles' back and talked gently to him about nothing until the fear relinquished its hold and Miles returned to him.
"Do you think you'll be able to get back to sleep?" Miles asked. "Do you need some distraction? Feel free to ramble about your latest case."
Phoenix snorted. "What, and give away everything I know so you can turn around and tell your latest protege? I don't think so."
"Perhaps I just want to spare our newest prosecutor the full brunt of your nonsense. I don't want him to decide he needs to retire at the age of twenty-two."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure to provide a heaping helping of weapons-grade nonsense. I don't want to deprive him of a valuable learning experience," said Phoenix. "Besides, it's not like you'd ever go easy on one of my people."
"I certainly would not," he said with an infuriatingly smug look.
"Exactly." Phoenix kissed his forehead and settled back in, finally able to relax and let his mind drift, mostly to all the things that needed doing. That new case. Trucy's student loan forms. Calling an HVAC repair guy about the faulty air conditioning in the agency before they all melted into puddles.
He didn't notice right away when Miles' hand dropped from his back, his husband's face going slack as he fell back to sleep. Phoenix couldn't resist bringing his hand up to play with his bangs, and Miles stirred but didn't wake.
Sometimes it still seemed like a kind of miracle that Miles Edgeworth of all people was letting his guard down enough around Phoenix to sleep this soundly. Oh, he did appreciate Miles' ruthless glare and his insufferable smirk, but everyone in the courthouse was familiar with those. Only he got to see Miles like this. And that was as good a proof as any that Miles really wasn't going anywhere.
Satisfied with his evidence, Phoenix tucked himself against his husband's chest and went back to sleep.