Chapter Text
Phoenix hugged Maya for the fifth time in as many minutes, ignoring her rolled eyes and focusing on the way her fist was tight enough around his suit jacket to leave wrinkles. It was too close today, too close the past three days, and he suspected he’d end up asking Maya and Pearl to spend the night so he could reassure himself when he woke up in the middle of the night that he wasn’t dreaming, he saved her, she was fine. A cleared throat behind him drew his attention, and he let go of Maya to turn and see Miles.
“I think Pearly fell asleep under the banquet table, I’m gonna go get her.”
Phoenix nodded, stepping back to let her duck under his arm and go fetch her cousin. Miles was clutching his elbow, and Phoenix closed his eyes to take a deep breath before opening his mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
His eyes flew open when he realized that they both said it at the same time, and he couldn’t help but laugh at the confused look on Miles’ face.
“What could you possibly have to be sorry for, Wright? I completely understand why you dragged the trial out for as long as you did, Miss Fey’s life was at risk, and I helped you extend the trial for that purpose. You made the right decision in the end, Engarde will be jailed for his crimes. There is nothing for you to apologize for.”
Phoenix laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, and shook his head. “No, I definitely need to apologize for what I said.” Miles’ confused face didn’t change, and Phoenix dropped his hand and sighed. “When- when you first showed up, at the police station, I…”
Miles finally remembered what Phoenix was apologizing for, and grabbed at his elbow again. “I see.”
“I’m sorry. I- I know it was the worst possible thing for me to say, and there’s no reason for you to ever forgive me for it, but I’m so, so sorry.”
Miles nodded, not quite able to look Phoenix in the eye, and he glanced over his shoulder to see Maya coaxing Pearl to her feet. The younger girl was rubbing at her eyes, and Phoenix hoped that she slept until noon tomorrow. She’d gotten nearly as little sleep as him, these past few days.
“Whether or not you think that I have reason to forgive your words, Wright, please believe me when I say that you are forgiven, for those and any other things you may have said which you believe to have harmed me. Indeed, I am the one who needs to offer my apologies to you.”
Phoenix shook his head, cutting Miles off with a wave of his hand. “Edgeworth, you don’t need to apologize. After this trial, I completely understand the need to drop off the map and reevaluate your life, though of course I wish you’d told us earlier that you only chose death metaphorically. You don’t owe anyone anything.”
Miles’ face twitched towards a smile, but it didn’t fully appear, and he looked away again. “While it certainly reassures me to hear that, especially from you, it was not the only thing I need to apologize to you for.”
“What else is there?”
Miles took a pen from his breast pocket, and Phoenix stared in confusion as he pulled the cap off to draw a circle on the back of his left hand.
Phoenix’s left hand tingled.
No.
It couldn’t be.
He couldn’t be.
“What?”
Miles shifted, visibly uncomfortable, and Phoenix wondered if he passed out from exhaustion already and was having the most bizzare dream. “I was not ready to tell you yet, the night we began to talk and I realized from your description of the recent past that there was only one person whose words could be appearing on my skin. I knew I would need to tell you eventually, but feared that such news would only be believed in person, with tangible and visual proof of the connection and of my continued presence in the world of the living. I had planned to tell you the moment I saw you, but our reunion did not go quite as I had hoped, and I didn’t want to tell you when it would feel like an excuse to force your hand and dismiss your legitimate anger. Then there was the trial, and Miss Fey’s predicament, and I am not so self-centered as to believe that our bond is more important than the girl who has stayed by your side through thick and thin.”
Phoenix, apparently on reflex as his brain still hadn’t quite caught up to the situation yet, interrupted him there. “Don’t sell yourself short, Edgeworth.”
He looked at him, finally, and this time Phoenix was the one who had to look away.
“Mr Nick?” Pearl yawned, and the relief Phoenix felt at the excuse to interrupt their conversation was immediately followed by shame and regret that he was anything but devoted to having this long-overdue discussion.
“What is it, Pearls?”
“She’s real tired. I don’t want to impose, but-”
“Of course you can stay at my place tonight, Maya. I insist.” She smiled, yawning herself, and Phoenix turned back to Miles. “We can keep talking later, but the girls need to sleep.”
In a manner of seconds, you wouldn’t have been able to tell that Miles was in the middle of an emotional confession less than a minute ago. He stood up straighter, face falling into his standard neutral expression that looked like he’d smelled something bad, and nodded curtly to Maya.
“May I offer you a lift to Wright’s apartment? It’s rather late to be walking home.”
“Oh, yes please, Mr Ehhhhhhhh... Mr Eh-ji-werth,” Pearl yawned. She bowed precisely despite her exhaustion, hands folded neatly in front of her, and Phoenix smiled fondly at her and at the expression on Maya’s face, which he suspected mirrored his.
The drive was quiet, Phoenix unwilling to continue talking about such a sensitive subject with Maya and Pearl dozing off in the backseat, but when Miles pulled up in front of his building he dug his keys out of his pocket and handed them to Maya.
“Take my bed, I’ll sleep on the couch tonight. I’m just gonna talk to Edgeworth for a minute and be right up, don’t lock the door.”
Maya nodded, yawning again, and picked Pearl up to carry her up the stairs. He lived in a pretty safe neighborhood, but he still didn’t feel comfortable talking to Miles until he saw the door of his unit swing open and then shut behind the girls. He was sure he’d have nightmares the first night after they went back home, that he’d end up waking Maya up in the middle of the night with anxious texts and calls, but that was a problem for the future, and right now he needed to focus on his hand and the circle that Miles drew on it.
“Are you and Miss Fey…”
It took Phoenix a moment to understand what Miles was asking, and he pulled a face as he shook his head rapidly. “No! God, no, she’s still just a kid. She’s more like a little sister. Pearl was pretty insistent otherwise even after we showed her that what I wrote on myself didn’t appear on Maya, but the first time you wrote back while Maya was clearly otherwise occupied she changed tracks. She’s pretty nosy about Maya’s soulmate now, though she’s tight-lipped about the subject.”
There was a moment of silence, and Phoenix stared at his hand again.
“The first time you wrote back. God. You’re my soulmate, aren’t you? The soulmate I poured my heart out to, all my mixed-up feelings for my childhood best friend. Who was also you.”
Miles nodded, the gesture a vague motion mostly visible in the hair moving in the corner of his eye, and Phoenix sat in silence staring at his hand until Miles spoke up.
“If you- if your feelings for me are no longer-”
Phoenix reached over to grab Miles’ hand, the one he drew the circle with, and pulled. Miles turned to face him, and he leaned across the center console to grab Miles’ left shoulder with his right arm and pull his head forward. Their noses crashed against each other, and it hurt like crazy, but he ignored it to tilt his head to the side and press their mouths together.
Miles was pulling away almost before their lips touched, wincing, and Phoenix leaned back, dropping his arms. Miles touched his nose, flinching, and Phoenix turned to open the car door and step out.
“Wright, wait.” He stopped with a hand on the door handle, though he couldn’t bring himself to turn around again. “I… we…”
He trailed off again, and Phoenix resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Are you going to say something, or can I go sleep?”
Edgeworth sighed, exasperated and angry, and snapped out, “Just look at me, Wright.”
He let go of the handle to turn, and this time it was Miles’ turn to grab his shoulder and pull him in. He was slower about it than Phoenix had been, careful not to smash anything together but their lips, and Phoenix closed his eyes and clutched at Miles’ arm, feeling the fabric of his stupid pink suit wrinkle under his fingers.
Even with their mouths closed, he couldn’t call the kiss chaste, and when Phoenix pulled away to breathe he opened his eyes to see Miles’ still closed, mouth slightly open as if he were chasing the taste of Phoenix’s lips on his. He opened his eyes and Phoenix met them, smiling softly. Miles responded in kind, and Phoenix felt his heart lurch as he absent mindedly traced the circle on the back of his hand.
Miles cleared his throat, leaning back, and even in the dark Phoenix could tell that he was blushing. “You should go inside. I’m certain Miss Fey and- and Miss Fey will sleep more soundly with you at home, as I am sure you will only be able to sleep with them safely nearby.”
Phoenix grinned, cocking his head to the side. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think that implied an invitation to spend the night with you.”
Miles put both hands on the steering wheel, staring straight ahead, a clear refusal to answer instead of the fervent embarrassed denial he expected, and Phoenix’s heart did a backflip that somehow landed right on his dick. The thought of going home with Miles, Miles who was his soulmate, Miles who was alive and who kissed him like he couldn’t stand to spend another second with their bodies not pressed together- the thought of it drove him crazy, but…
Phoenix sighed. “You’re right. I won’t get any sleep if it’s not near them, and I’m not going to ask them to move again now that they’ve settled in for the night.”
He briefly wondered if he could ask Miles to stay, but there was really only room for one on his couch, and he didn’t have a guest room.
“I will call you tomorrow, to discuss this further.”
Phoenix nodded, and on an impulse, he leaned into kiss Miles one last time. He met him halfway, sighing slightly against his lips, and Phoenix’s heart soared. He’d never even considered this possibility, that his recalcitrant soulmate and the man who saved and won his heart when they were nine could be the same person, and he wondered if all the bad things that had happened to him in the past were the negative needed to balance out this, what would almost certainly be the happiest moment of his life. When he pulled away, Miles sighed again, and he couldn’t help but lean back in for half a second to press one last peck against his lips.
“Tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow,” Miles repeated, and Phoenix turned to open the door and step out of the car. He didn’t hear the bright red car drive away until he was closing his apartment door behind him, and after toeing off his shoes he walked over to his bedroom to look in and see Maya and Pearl curled up together, already fast asleep. Maya was wrapped around Pearl, who clung to her cousin with every ounce of strength in her deceptively powerful arms, and Phoenix pulled the blanket up to tuck them in before grabbing a spare from his closet and heading to the couch.
The only reason he was sleepy at all was the exhaustion of the past few days catching up to him, because Phoenix was sure that under any other circumstances he could stay awake for a week from the high of having kissed Miles. He’d call back tomorrow, and there was a very good chance that the next time they saw each other he would get to kiss Miles again, and Phoenix burrowed deeper into his couch under the blanket as he traced the circle on his hand yet again.
Something dug into his side, and he shifted to fumble it out. He pulled a pen out of the gap between the cushions, and smiled.
The heart drawn inside the circle was sloppy, uneven and asymmetrical since it was drawn in the dark while he was already half-asleep, but when he woke up it had been completely colored in with red ink, and Phoenix held it over his own heart with a warm smile and a sigh.