“Soooo, Edgeworth. Miles. Miles Edgeworth.”
The man in question looked flatly at Phoenix, peering at him over the rim of his glasses. “That is my name, yes.”
Phoenix leaned on Edgeworth’s desk, casual, closer than most people considered friendly but not so close as to make him uncomfortable. “Did you do something with your hair? It looks silkier than usual today.”
Edgeworth gave him a scrutinizing look, squinting at his face before turning back to his paperwork. Phoenix could never decide if he liked it when Edgeworth did that or not. With his piercing gaze it almost seemed like he was looking into Phoenix’s very soul, but there was never anything malicious about it. At least never when he did it to Phoenix. “Thank you.” The thanks was clipped, professional, like everything else about him. “I would ask the same of you, but your hair is just as unruly as usual.”
Phoenix scowled. His hair was not unruly. He had it ruled exactly how he wanted it. But if he got angry he’d blow his whole plan. “I mean it,” he said softly, sliding a few inches closer. “It looks nice. You always look nice, but today there’s just…something about you, you know?”
To his great surprise, the tips of Edgeworth’s ears turned the same colour as his coat. Holy shit, that worked? “Th-thank you.” Edgeworth cleared his throat and avoided Phoenix’s eyes. His face was steadfastly turned away from Phoenix, looking down at the work on his desk instead.
“Hey, Edgeworth? Miles? Is it okay if I call you Miles?” Phoenix reached out and put a hand on Edgeworth’s shoulder. Edgeworth nodded, still focused on his work. “Miles, then.” Phoenix leaned down a little closer. “Miles, we’ve known each other too long to beat around the bush like this. We both know what I want.”
Miles finally turned to face him, staring up at him with an open wariness in his eyes. His lips were slightly parted and his whole face was scarlet. Phoenix bit back a grin. The Chief Prosecutor, blushing like a schoolgirl. “And what would that be?” Miles asked, and to his credit his voice never wavered once.
Phoenix leaned in, bracing his hands on the arms of Miles’s chair, grinning from ear to ear. “I want the updated autopsy report.”
Miles’s face darkened and he shoved Phoenix back. “Get out of my office.”
“Aw, Edgeworth, come on!” Phoenix was not whining. “It’s not fair that you guys always get to have the important information and my kids are scrambling around to get any little lead they can. Just a little peek? Please? For old time’s sake?”
“Everything’s always ‘for old time’s sake’ with you,” Edgeworth grumbled. He turned back to his desk and pointed at an envelope without looking. “Take it and get out. And to think, for a moment there I actually thought you–” He clammed up before he could finish his sentence.
“You thought what?” Edgeworth remained silent, signing a document with an almost violent scrawl and slamming it onto a pile. “Miles, what’s wrong? I was just teasing.”
“Nothing is wrong.”
Everything went dark for a moment and chains lashed around Edgeworth, a large red lock slamming into the middle of it all. Phoenix took an involuntary step back, eyes widening. Whatever was bothering Edgeworth, he didn’t want Phoenix to know about it. “Miles,” he said warningly. “Talk to me.”
Edgeworth glared up at him. “It’s always teasing with you. I’m sick of it.”
Phoenix gave a wry grin, trying to diffuse some of the tension. “What, you want me to stop teasing and just kiss you already, is that it?”
Edgeworth said nothing, just stared intently at him. Phoenix’s grin wavered and fell off his face entirely. “Wait, is that it?” Edgeworth shrugged and Phoenix sighed. “Well you should’ve just said something. For a genius, you’re kind of an idiot.”
Before Edgeworth could open his mouth to reply, Phoenix’s lips were on his. And as he felt Edgeworth’s hands grab at his lapels to pull him closer, he heard the unmistakable sound of a psyche-lock shattering.
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