Chapter Text
Phoenix Wright feels electric on the other side of the court from Miles Edgeworth. His heart is pounding in his chest, his little crush clearly not deterred by time, or by the fact that the other has spent the entirety of their time trying to get Maya convicted of murder and looking down on him. It hurts, but he can’t keep himself from believing in Edgeworth. It’s not like it would be novel for him to fall in love with someone who will hurt him. Maybe he’s a hopeless idiot, doomed to crush on all the wrong people, but if that’s the lesson he’s supposed to learn, he’s not learning it today. Still reeling from the broken link with Mia, he manages to prolong the trial another day. It takes ages to get to have a proper conversation, or at least, as proper as one can be through the glass of the detention center, which Phoenix thinks is still better than inside court. It takes longer still, until after Edgeworth is freed on all charges, that Phoenix realizes that he’s already linked himself to the man.
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Edgeworth keeps dreaming of phoenixes. It started sometime during State V. Will Powers and never really stopped. At first the phoenix couldn’t seem to get into the elevator, but strangely, alongside the phoenix he was pulled out of different spots, from nightmares into dreams. Usually he only ever dreamt of the elevator, somehow, that had changed. After becoming the defendant and finding out the truth of the elevator he found out that now the phoenix could save him from those nightmares too. Edgeworth was sitting in bed, wondering about it. On one hand, it could be some advanced level of embarrassing pining for the man. On the other hand, Phoenix was already involved with spirit channelers, and if he had magic powers Edgeworth had to concede that he would probably use them for some endeavor as useless as saving him from his nightmares. He thinks he’d rather believe in magic.
They continue even as he moves back to Europe. Noticeably, the phoenix seems upset, clinging to his side the whole dream. Edgeworth decides this phoenix is definitely Phoenix Wright doing some whimsical idiot magic. He doesn’t say anything. Eventually, Wright starts talking to him. He talks about vague and believable things that happened in his life, probably hoping Edgeworth still thinks he’s a figment of his own imagination. Edgeworth talks back occasionally, mostly to make fun of him. He is surprised to find one day, that instead of his own dream, or Phoenix’s usual flower field, he’s greeted with a cliff, a purple sky, and the judge towering over Phoenix. He looks terrified. The judge is saying something about how Phoenix has gone too far. Edgeworth doesn’t hesitate in grabbing the bird and attempting to exit. He doesn’t exactly know how Phoenix has been saving him from his nightmares, but if Wright can do it surely he can figure it out. Phoenix is looking at him with shiny multicolored eyes, and Edgeworth can feel warmth creeping up his face. The judge’s gavel falls, and he wakes up. His head hurts. It takes him longer than usual to get up and get his shit together, he wonders if Wright is somehow responsible for this. He spends far too long looking aimless in his own house, he’s got nothing to do today, except apparently wonder what happened to Phoenix. Eventually he gives up and calls the bird bastard.
“..Uh.. Phoenix Wright speaking, need an attorney?” Edgeworth thinks that’s an oddly informal greeting for a work phone.
“No, not really.” He says, waiting for Phoenix to recognize his voice, wondering if he’ll pretend to be surprised.
“Uhm. Real sorry, but my contacts got wiped, so uh, who is this exactly?” Phoenix stutters out. Surely Edgeworth hadn’t been too hasty in assuming that dream Phoenix was just real Phoenix? Eventually, as he gets lost in his thoughts, Wrights phone is stolen from him and the next voice he hears is Mayas.
“Hi! Sorry, Nick’s concussed. Who’s this?”
“Concussed?” He interrupts, failing to keep the worry out of his voice.
“Hi Mr. Edgeworth. So he had this evidence on him right? And the murderer-” Maya starts
“I think I get the picture. Did you get the murderer convicted?” Edgeworth responds.
“We got a not guilty for our client, because I’m the defense.” Wright says, voice full of humor.
“I know your strategy Wright. Don’t pretend you didn’t catch the murderer too.” He hears Maya laughing over the phone. “Do you want me to come over there?” He asks.
“Yes, of course” Wright responds immediately. It is then that he hears a quiet and rushed conversation between them.
“Do you even remember who he is?” Maya whispers.
“...No, but I like him.” is Phoenix’s response. How is he supposed to deal with that?
“You didn’t include amnesia in the conversation.” Edgeworth says.
“Sorry Mr. Edgeworth, I forgot to tell you.” Wright responds, clearly a joking tone to his voice. It’s strange to hear Wright refer to him in the same way that Maya does. “I was actually expecting Maya to be responsible for it for once, my mistake.” He hears laughter on the other end.
After a moment of quiet, Wright speaks up again “You don’t have to fly here, it’s just one head injury.” He sounds absolutely reverent saying it. It appears he’s remembered who he’s talking to.
Miles hums “I hope you’ll forgive me, I’m not ready to go back yet.”
“I thought so, I don’t even know why you asked me.”