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“Wright.”
Phoenix snorts awake, peeling his head off the notepad on his desk. He lets out a sad, little groan, then looks up slowly to Mia and gives her a weak, hopefully charming smile.
All he gets in return is a raised eyebrow as she points a sharp acrylic fingernail at a glass container at the end of their desk bank. There’s a post-it note clinging on for dear life with ‘SNOOZE JAR’ scrawled above a chibi drawing of a spiky haired man comically sleeping.
“I swear this counts as harassment against working families,” Phoenix grumbles, fishing around his pocket for a dollar note.
“There’s got to be at least forty bucks in there, surely not long now until you can buy Trucy that-.. what was that thing she wanted again?”
“Straight jacket.” Phoenix answers. He can see Mia opening her mouth so he quickly adds, “She recently discovered Houdini and borrowed a bunch of escapology books from the library. I woke up in handcuffs the other morning.”
“You know, most people’s idea of a quarter life crisis is going to Bali for two weeks, not adopting a whole ass child,” Mia chuckles fondly, half sitting on the end of the desk and crossing her arms.
Phoenix rubs his eye with his palm tiredly before letting it slip down to his jaw so he can slump into it. “Says the woman who spent her life savings on a Tesla and wrote it off within three days.”
That hit a sore spot. “Careful Wright, or I’ll give your bonus away to the events team.”
“While you’re at it, can you tell them to at least get some gluten-free options for donut day? The regular ones flare up my IBS.”
Mia quickly holds up her hand in disgust. “Ew, TMI.”
“Meeting,” Grossberg announces across their region of the office and a vague rumbling of groans and scattered scraping of chairs follows. Phoenix combs his fingers through his rumpled hair, hoping it makes him look a little less dishevelled. He takes a bracing breath, then grabs the notepad and stands up.
“And your shirt is inside out,” Mia grins, turning on her heel and striding off towards the meeting room.
“Fuck.”
Grossberg peers over the meeting room. “Marketing team, who’s our spokesperson today?”
Phoenix glances between Mia and Ema (who’s disinterestedly munching on a baggie of snacks) before shyly stepping forward.
“Ah, Mr. Wright, please give us an overview of your wins and objectives.”
“Um, well, not really a win but hits to the website decreased by 32% which we believe has to do with attorn.io getting that front page feature in Bloomberg. We’ve already come up with a proposal with PR which I’m sure they’ll share in a moment. And, uhh-”
Phoenix stares down at the notepad where his first bullet point trails off, leaving the remainder of the lined page blank. He feels a cold sweat form on the back of his neck.
“PSA campaign,” Mia hisses lowly out of the corner of her mouth.
“Oh, shit, yeah. The community engagement campaign with the Public Department of Health has exceeded our initial goals. We’ve had nearly three hundred new sign-ups to the mailing list, all from within the 18-34 demographic. And the Mayor wants to share the original pitch deck with the state Governor to potentially roll out the campaign across California.”
“We’ll have a full post-mortem completed for everyone to read at the end of the campaign in two weeks,” Mia adds. “We can also offer some support for the Social Media team’s TikTok idea now that we’ve got our foot in the door with the Zoomer market.”
“Very good!” Grossberg claps heartily, and a couple others join in. “Now, PR team, who’s stepping up today to-”
“Thanks,” Phoenix whispers to Mia, relaxing against the wall to let out a sigh of relief.
“I really wanted to see you choke out there too. Damn my benevolent conscience,” she tilts her head to whisper back.
Grossberg goes through birthdays and anniversaries, Phoenix only clapping along when everyone else is. He’s too tired these days to actively pay attention to anything that’s being said. He does remember that he needs to buy bandaids on the way home and writes the word on the back of his hand with his pocket pen.
“And now for joiners and leavers,” Grossberg announces, “Let’s get the sad news out of the way first, shall we? After an incredible fifteen years at the company, the indomitable Richard Hammond has decided that he’s finally fed up with the LA heat and is moving to Montreal, Canada with his beautiful family.” A scatter of gasps erupts around the room. “Don’t fret! Rob still has six more months left with us before his last day. And we will be having a big leaving do, of course, let’s just hope it doesn’t end like Yanni’s did.”
The majority of the room turns to look at Phoenix. Angel Starr from Events gives him a coy smirk. He sinks into his shoulders and places his hands over his face. He can hear someone asking what happened and peers through fanned fingers to see the person next to them lean over to whisper in their ear.
“I’m never going to live that down, am I?” he groans.
“Nope,” Mia smirks. “Never.”
“Now for the exciting news! I’m very happy to announce that we have a new starter today. Where are you Mr. Edgew- ah! There you are. Come on, my boy, stand up.”
The thing about this place, like any tech company, is people come and go all the time, and it’s rare that a new employee will stay for longer than a year. Unless they’re in his department, it’s a good idea not to get too attached, so usually when Grossberg introduces a new starter, it’s nothing monumental.
Except this time, a grey haired man in a beautiful maroon suit who was tucked away next to a massive monstera plant stands up and gives a small, coy nod to the rest of the room. Something about him is so effortlessly handsome it makes Phoenix's eyes nearly pop out of his face.
“RIP Phoenix,” Mia mumbles gleefully, but she’s staring just as much as everyone else in the room is.
“He looks like a kpop idol,” Ema blinks, the sight of this gorgeous new recruit powerful enough that her snack baggie is hanging by her side.
“He’s no Taemin,” Klavier rolls his eyes and crosses his arms.
“Not jealousy I hear, Klavi,” Ema nudges him with her elbow.
“Psst,” he puts his finger over his mouth with faux enthusiasm in the meeting.
“This is Miles Edgeworth,” Grossberg says, gesturing to the beautiful guy. “He’s a senior front end developer who’s just relocated here from San Francisco. Mr. Edgeworth is highly qualified and acclaimed in Silicon Valley, as well as being on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, so we’re very, very happy to have him on board with us. Let’s give a big LegalGeek welcome to Mr. Edgeworth!”
There’s a weak response from the room, a couple of voiced greetings and some clapping, but overall a unanimous feeling of shock and awe that seems to span gender and sexuality indiscriminately.
“Why did you move from the Valley?” Kay pipes up, who’s sitting on her chair backwards and is close to falling over with how far forward she’s leaning. There’s a few murmurings of agreement at the question.
“Ah, well, my father’s not well, I moved back to LA so I could help look after him.” His voice is deep and kind, and Phoenix is pretty sure he just heard someone literally swoon.
“Oh my god, I think I’m going to die,” Ema squeaks. “Why does dev always get the good ones?”
Klavier clicks his tongue grumpily.
Phoenix is at his desk, stuffing down a cafeteria burger and fries with one hand and proofreading a proposal from Mia with the other. It’s lunch break, but lately he’s been working through so he can still pick Trucy up from school and avoid having to make up the extra hour at home.
Ema suddenly bounds around the corner, launching into her seat next to Phoenix and pretends to type on her keyboard.
Phoenix smirks, sipping on his fanta. “You right there, neighbour?”
“Grossberg’s doing the rounds,” she says, pointing to the far side of the room. There’s Edgeworth, angled to show off his pretty profile, currently talking to Mimi Miney from Social Media. Grossberg makes a gesture and all three start laughing, Edgeworth politely turns his head and covers his mouth with his hand.
Phoenix snorts his soda up his nose. Choking out, “He chose the rainbow lanyard?”
“I know,” Ema eyes Phoenix with an amused smile. “I should’ve known from those tailored pants, man’s carrying the wagon.”
“I will literally dob you into HR,” Phoenix quips, now unable to tear his eyes away from Edgeworth’s perfectly rounded ass. He suddenly sinks deep into his seat. “Oh my god, he’s coming this way!”
“And this is our Marketing te-..” Grossberg’s voice floats over before pausing. “Wright, what are you doing down there? Sleeping again?”
Phoenix crawls out from under his desk nonchalantly, “Nope, just dropped my…” He picks up the first thing he can grab and turns it over in his hand. “Costco membership card? I thought I lost this!”
Grossberg sighs deeply. “As I was saying, this is the Marketing team who are working hard to make LegalGeek famous. This is Ema Skye, our Junior Marketing Associate.”
“Hi,” Ema grins, giving a little wave.
“Nice to meet you,” Edgeworth replies. His features are angled but soft, elegant petal lips and dark eyebrows that sit almost perfectly straight beneath his forehead. When he smiles, his monolid eyes curve into gentle crescents that make Phoenix’s palms clammy. He wonders if you can sue someone for being too fucking beautiful.
“The one with his shirt inside out is Phoenix Wright, our Marketing Manager,” Grossberg then points to the desk opposite Phoenix’s. “And this is Mia Fey’s desk, she’s our Head of Marketing, I’m sure she’ll introduce herself when she sees you.”
Edgeworth is staring at Phoenix with a slightly pained expression, as if trying to place him.
“Hello,” Phoenix says, hoping to sound as casual as possible.
“Have we met?” Edgeworth asks abruptly.
“Uhh, I don’t.. think so?”
“You seem familiar… but I can’t place it. I swear I’ve seen your face, or heard your name before. But where?”
Phoenix just shakes his head, shrugging hopelessly. He hopes Edgeworth figures it out soon because he’s going to explode if he keeps staring at him like that.
“Oh, wait. What school did you go to? Sorry, I know this is quite rude for me to ask..”
“Liberty High?”
“No,” Edgeworth’s brow pinches in such a cute way that Phoenix’s heart gallops away. “Grade school?”
“Gourd Lake Elementary.”
“Yes! I attended that school briefly in fourth grade,” Edgeworth says, his eyes positively sparkling. Phoenix knows he’s still asleep at his desk now, dreaming and floating away above the clouds.
Miles Edgeworth...
“Oh my god, you were that quiet, studious kid,” Phoenix remembers, the pieces of his memory slowly but clearly snapping together like a jigsaw puzzle. Holy fuck, how did he forget about Miles Edgeworth?
“I sat behind you,” Edgeworth beams.
“I had a massive crush on you,” Phoenix says without thinking, then reactively stiffens as Edgeworth’s cherubric lips pop open into a cute little ‘o’.
“Th-Thank you,” Edgeworth's voice cracks, face completely red.
“Ema, put that away!” Grossberg suddenly frets, waving his hands in distress. Phoenix turns around in horror to see Ema pointing her phone at them.
“Sorry,” she says with a big (fake) apologetic grin. “Mia would kill me if I didn’t get this on camera.”
“A word, Miss. Skye?” Grossberg growls lowly, pointing to the meeting room.
Ema groans, pushing herself off her chair petulantly. “Not again.”
Once they’re gone, Phoenix rubs his face tiredly. “I’m so sorry, this office is bonkers. Sometimes I think it’s the underworld of legal tech. You probably should’ve stayed in the Valley.”
Edgeworth just smiles, cheeks still a little rosy. “This is already way better than SF, there’s a lot more women who work here for a start.”
Phoenix understands. “Oh, I see.”
“Oh, no!” Edgeworth waves his hands frantically, “I’m gay, I meant you actually have more than a couple token diversity hires. My old place was cishet white alpha male hell. Oh god, I think I just realised I was their diversity hire.”
He’s gay, Phoenix repeats in his head. He’s gay, he repeats again, devoid of all other thought. Is this what euphoria feels like?
Edgeworth points at Phoenix’s desk, intrigued, “Who’s this?”
Phoenix follows the finger to a small cut-out photo taped to the edge of his monitor. “Oh, that’s my daughter, Trucy,” he says, smiling proudly at her little captured face grinning back at him.
“Wow,” Edgeworth blinks. “Congratulations on settling down.”
Phoenix laughs. “Don’t congratulate me too hard. Dad life is not that glamorous, but Trucy’s a great kid if the single parent support Facebook group is anything to go by. Sometimes I wonder if she adopted me. We’re doing our best and we get by.”
“Single parent, that must be hard.”
“Yeah, it is. It’s a lot of no sleep and cleaning up vomit after jumping on the bed too much and consoling when there’s tears but you know, I already couldn’t imagine my life any other way. That girl has really helped me realise what’s important in life.” Phoenix realises the way he’s smiling like a big idiot and glances away bashfully.
“You’re incredible, Phoenix.”
Phoenix snaps his head back to Edgeworth, who’s looking down at him fondly. He can’t handle it, so he asks, “Hey, didn’t you want to be a Defense Attorney like your Dad? Did you ever do that? And I’m sorry to hear he’s unwell.”
“It’s alright. I think things will be easier with me in town again. I did go to law school but ended up doing my Masters in CompSci. I’d still like to practice law one day but I suppose I’m taking the scenic route.”
“I couldn’t do it,” Phoenix says resolutely.
“I’m sure you’d make a great lawyer, Phoenix,” Edgeworth encourages with a genuine smile. “You should definitely come over and meet my father again, I think he’d be seriously chuffed to see you.”
Phoenix can’t tell if that’s a date invitation or not.
“S-sure. And I’m sure Trucy would love you if she met you. She loves everyone she meets.”
“Oh, I’d really like that. I’ll be sure to bring her a gift.”
“Well, now you’re on track to be her favourite,” Phoenix says wryly.
Edgeworth erupts in joyous laughter and the sound makes Phoenix feel so happy that he wants to cry, for some strange, unexplainable reason. Being a single dad made dating nigh impossible but he would date Edgeworth if he got the chance. He’d date the shit out of him.
“I shouldn’t keep you, Phoenix, but I’m morbidly curious: what on earth happened at that leaving party?”
Phoenix groans. “We went to karaoke and I got really drunk, fell down the stairs on the way out and broke my arm. Everyone was too drunk to drive so we got a maxi taxi to the hospital and they held an afterparty in the emergency waiting room while I was getting x-rays. I’m fairly certain Mia had sex with her girlfriend in the bathroom but she still won’t confirm or deny it...”
“They didn’t call an ambulance?”
“Yes, that would’ve been the sensible thing to do, but we’re not a particularly sensible bunch, as I’m sure you’ll soon discover.”
“Can’t wait,” Edgeworth smiles brilliantly.
Phoenix would be sorry to see him go, if the back view wasn’t so excellent. He cranes his head as Edgeworth makes his way back to dev side, and Phoenix would like to shake the hand of the tailor who sculpted those slacks around that ass.