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"Borginia? Where the hell even is Borginia?"
Phoenix knew he did not own Edgeworth's time nor did he have any right to ask him to stay. Even if he wanted to, he'd not ask that of him, especially not after everything he'd already done for him just this week alone. But, it still felt a bit jarring to hear the day after Maya had been rescued and the whole sordid Dahlia affair had been put to rest that Miles had a flight to catch in only a few hours. He had some sort of business trip to wherever the hell Borginia was to study their legal system or something, he honestly stopped paying attention partway through his explanation.
"It's in the Balkans," was all Edgeworth provided to answer that. As a solid B-minus student in geography class, Phoenix was pretty sure that was near Russia, but he wasn't about to show his entire ass as his friend was leaving to rest up for his flight by asking if that was correct. "It has been lovely to see you, and do give the girls my regards when they return, but it's a long drive to the airport and I do not wish for a traffic jam to make me late."
Couldn't he have mentioned that he couldn't stay for dinner before Phoenix bothered doing all the math to make that casserole recipe big enough to feed four? Well, three and Maya, who ate way more than Phoenix and Pearl did put together on her own, and Pearls often didn't finish her serving if Phoenix gave her too much, so really it was more like cooking for five when you portioned it all out. The recipes written for four did so well, but Edgeworth was complicating it and… agh! At least it could be leftovers for the next day, and…
"Goodness, you're really glaring. Are you truly so sorry to see me go?" Miles was almost smirking, and Phoenix couldn't bear it. He stood up and walked over to the chair where he'd delicately draped his overcoat to grab it for him, just so he wouldn't have to keep looking at him for a second.
"You're the worst house guest I've ever had," Phoenix told him flatly as he shoved the dark coat in his face. "Do you know how much that's saying? You're worse than Larry and Maggey, and she broke half the dishes in my kitchen!"
Edgeworth scoffed a little as he took the coat and put it on. As he did so, something fell from the pocket he didn't seem to notice. "I highly doubt that. Forgive me, it's been a hectic few days, I'd simply forgotten that I had a prior engagement in Borginia standing for this next month until Detective Gumshoe informed me that he'd canceled my flight out of BER and instead booked one out of LAX ."
Phoenix leaned down to pick up the dropped paper. It looked like an unused cocktail napkin or something. "How did Gumshoe book a flight for you? Also why did Gumshoe book a flight for you? He's a detective; booking your fancy first class flight doesn't really seem like it's in his wheelhouse."
"It was on my dime, of course," Edgeworth said, as if that explained everything. "Oh, did I drop something?"
"Yeah, I dunno what it is, but it was in your pocket." Phoenix turned the napkin over. There was frantic looking writing all over it in a shaky pen that looked nothing like the prosecutor's normal careful cursive. It was stained in a few places too by droplets of water. Phoenix looked closely, deeply curious as to what it was when he finally made out a few of the words: "Phoenix Wright was…"
Miles, who had been peering at the napkin, snatched it up suddenly, squeaking as his face turned as red as his suit jacket. "St-stop looking at that!" He sprinted over to the trash can. "It's nothing!"
"It had my name on it," Phoenix said, as if he hadn't been definitely overstepping by looking at it further in the first place. "My name usually isn't just on 'nothing', you know!"
Instead of continuing to the trash, Miles stopped and closed his fist tight around the napkin, eyes screwing shut. "It was… notes I was taking on my flight here. Nothing important."
"Why did it say was?" Phoenix pressed, hand groping around his own pocket for the familiar little green stone. Miles glared at him, face still bright red as five locks appeared around him. Damn, he really didn't want to talk about this.
"Are you- put that thing away!" Miles shouted as Phoenix took the magatama properly out of his pocket. "Don't use your- your psycho-lock nonsense on me! Have I not yet earned your trust?"
"I trust you," Phoenix assured him. "Of course I trust you. But you're acting really weird, and if it's something that involves me, I want to know why."
Edgeworth took a deep breath. "It does not involve you, Wright," he told him. "I was simply… making preparations."
The locks remained firm. "It had my name on it, Miles! How am I supposed to believe that it had nothing to do with me?"
"I… I suppose that's not wholly accurate—"
"No shit, Herlock."
They both stood silent for a moment before Miles broke it. "…if I tell you what it is, you must promise to drop this line of questioning."
Phoenix shook his head. "That depends what it is. I can't make that promise before knowing that."
"…a eulogy." A lock shattered violently.
"Wha-? A- A eulogy?" Phoenix recoiled a bit in shock. "Were you going to a funeral?" What did that have to do with him?
Finally looking at him properly, almost too closely with a glare that could make any witness cry, Miles almost yelled as another lock shattered. "Your eulogy, you absolute fool! You nearly died! I was certain I wouldn't make it in time!"
Hazy memories of falling, of cold and pain, of looking at an unfamiliar ceiling resurfaced. "I… I didn't… realize…" He guessed he did cut it kind of close there, but he'd never thought he was dying. Granted, he was probably too wacked out on painkillers to really notice much of anything, let alone fear anything, but still, he hadn't thought that was how things had come across from the outside looking in. "You really did think I was gonna die, huh?"
Miles turned away, putting his hand and the crumpled eulogy in it back in his pocket. "I did. Apologies for cutting this short, but I really must go."
Phoenix just followed him out the door. "Nope. I'm riding with you. Gumshoe can pick me up with your car." This would be so much less awkward if he could just offer to drive him, but… well, Phoenix knew he shouldn't be behind the wheel under any circumstances. "Come on. It's a long drive to the airport, you said it yourself. You could use the company."
For all his bristling and huffing, Edgeworth made no attempts to stop him. "Fine. You should turn the oven off, though."
"Oh! Good catch!" Phoenix rushed to turn the oven off and pondered for a moment what to do about the nearly done casserole as he did so. He'd just leave a note for Maya to finish it- ah, no, she'd ignore it and she probably already had gotten food while she and Pearl were out. Little brat would use the excuse that there was a ramen shop on the way back from the library and conveniently have forgotten he told her not to get anything because there would be dinner at home. He instead left the note to Pearl and went back to join Edgeworth when he realized the asshole had made a break for it while his back was turned. That little—!
He made a mad dash down the stairs and practically fell out of his own front door as Miles turned his car on. "Don't you dare, Edgeworth!" He shouted after him, tripping over his own feet, back crying out in pain as the car started to drive away. Not like that was gonna stop him. He broke into a sprint after the bright red machine, following it halfway down the block. It was only through their mutual understanding of Phoenix's stubbornness that Edgeworth actually stopped the car and rolled the window down.
"Nngh- fine. Get in before you hurt yourself," Miles offered, brow deeply furrowed. Phoenix stumbled into the car, wincing a bit and starting to cough. He thought he was all better, but his body was still protesting.
Awkwardly, after a few moments of stop-and-start driving in silence broken only by too loud coughs, Miles put a hand on Phoenix's back and gently rubbed. "You're alright," he assured him. Phoenix relaxed at the gentle pressure. Oh, that felt nice… almost nice enough to forget he was pissed at Edgeworth. Almost.
"…thanks," Phoenix muttered, staring out the window for a moment before turning back to the man who'd stopped rubbing his back to actually move a bit in this annoying traffic. "But seriously, what kind of person pulls a 'look over there!' and makes a run for it after telling someone they wrote a eulogy for them?"
"What kind of person runs after a moving car after just getting discharged from the hospital two days ago?" an incredulous Edgeworth countered. "You could have seriously injured yourself, and I sincerely hope you did not! Truthfully, I think you should still be in the hospital, but…"
"Miles, I'm fine," Phoenix assured him. "I didn't die, I'm not grievously injured, and I won't explode just because I chased after you. I feel mostly fine, really."
His hand crept across the dash. For a second, Phoenix thought Miles was making to hold his hand before he instead felt him digging around in his pocket, snatching the magatama out of it. "Phoenix Wright, are you truly fine?"
"Aw, come on!" Phoenix huffed. "You can't just magatama me, that's my thing!"
That infuriatingly smug smirk crawled across Miles' face. "Oh, but I seem to recall you asking me to use this to find the truth no matter what? Is this not the truth? is this not no matter what?"
Phoenix tried to grab for it. "You know that's not what I meant! Come oooooon!"
Miles huffed and placed it in his pocket. "I'll gladly return it to you if you agree to forget about the eulogy."
The only thing keeping Phoenix from grabbing at Miles' pockets was the fact he was the one currently driving them. "Well, I'm not doing that so I hope you and Maya's prized possession have a fun trip to Russia."
"Wha- it's Borginia! That's nowhere near Russia, Wright!"
"Gah-!" Phoenix winced. Curse his barely functional knowledge of world geography! "A-anyways! You of all people have no right to withhold that information since you saw the video recording of your own funeral!"
Phoenix regretted bringing it up as soon as it left his mouth. That burning guilt that stayed with him until Gumshoe pulled him aside, eyes raw from crying, and told him what had actually happened… He didn't like reliving it. Some awful part of him felt smug that Miles had felt that panic for a moment on his own behalf, but the rest of him felt awful, crushing guilt that he'd not only caused that, but that he felt that way too.
Miles just stared at the road blankly for a moment, trying to focus long enough to get on the highway. "Truth be told, I didn't watch more than a few seconds of it. If you gave a eulogy for me, I didn't have the heart to see it."
"…I didn't give one," Phoenix admitted softly. "I was gonna, but… I found out you were alive halfway through the service and I stormed out. I just went home and got drunk alone, so I dunno what anyone said about you, to be honest."
A cold hand met his own, and a cold stone was placed into his palm. "…I'm truly sorry I did that to you, Phoenix. I have a lot of regrets in my life, but that's one of the biggest. I didn't have the heart to try to explain myself to you, and by the time I realized the harm I'd caused, I was too ashamed to try. Feeling that way about you… I truly wasn't sure I would survive that. My world felt dark in a way it hadn't since my father's death. That plane ride to your side was… difficult."
Though he wasn't using the magatama at the moment, he could still practically hear the shattering lock. Was Miles actually opening up to him? He was still in awe of when he actually did that, even if he'd gotten significantly better than he was two years ago. Phoenix didn't want to tell him he didn't have to; he might actually take him up on that. So instead, he rubbed his thumb along his hand. "I'm sorry to have worried you. Well, I'm sorry Larry worried you on my behalf— if I knew he'd called you, I would have told him to tell you I was alright."
"And I wouldn't have believed you," Miles added. "It's a miracle you're here, Wright. Truly. I'm not a religious man, but I truly think you must have a guardian angel."
"I do, her name's Mia." He'd meant it as a joke, but when it came out, he had to wonder if there was truth to it. Even without Maya or Pearl channeling her, he could feel her warmth protecting him. Maybe that's why he'd been mostly unscathed.
Miles nodded. "That makes sense. I thank her with all my heart, then. I know she wasn't fond of me while she was alive, but I owe her a great debt of gratitude in many ways."
"I'm sure she's forgiven you," Phoenix assured him. He'd never talked to Mia about Miles, not really, but she was with them. She could see how much he'd changed, and surely was thankful for all the help he'd been. But, his beloved mentor had always been a little petty. "Mostly, at least. She still might be a little mad for her murder trial."
"Trust me, I'm a little mad at me for that too. I was a spineless fool, trying to represent the interests of a selfish man for my own petty pride." He finally drew his hand away, sighing. "But, I have changed. In many ways, I'm still a fool, and I'm still selfish, but I'm at least acting on behalf of truth and justice."
Phoenix felt Miles' cold hand return to his own, a crumpled napkin being placed in it. "Here. It's embarrassing, so I ask you not to read it until I'm gone so I don't have to look you in the eye after you read it."
"Alright. I can agree to that." He slipped it into his pocket, wondering if he could sneak a glance while Miles was distracted. "…why would it be embarrassing, though?"
Miles stared resolutely back at the road. "I wrote it on three hours of sleep while trying to prevent myself from having a panic attack. I haven't reread it, and the only reason I didn't throw it away was that I worried it would somehow jinx your recovery to write off the need for it so soon. …it feels silly to say that out loud."
"No, no, people react to grief all sorts of ways! Uh, I guess that's grief? Pre-grief?" Phoenix groaned. "Ugh. You know what I mean. You feel how you feel. Feelings aren't rational."
"Goodness, you sound like my therapist," Miles remarked with a little smile.
"Your therapist?" Phoenix repeated in shock. "Whoa, the great demon prosecutor has a therapist! Wild if true."
"Ngooh-! S-silence!" Miles was a bit red again. "My therapist knows your full name, I'll have you know. And next I see her, she will know several details about how much you worry me with your reckless actions!"
"Aww, Miles! No, I think it's great you're going to therapy." Phoenix was honestly a little impressed. He knew he needed to go to therapy himself, but he'd not really been since a few emergency sessions two years ago. "Sorry, my first instinct is teasing you. I didn't mean to—"
He just smiled fondly at that. "I know, I know. I'm not insulted or put off by your words. I am well used to our… banter by now. Though, I do find it ironic you've come to be so snide given that when we were children, Butz's teasing always left you in tears. Shall I tell your mother you're being mean to me?"
A snort of laughter came out, and Phoenix fought the urge to get embarrassed. "I'll get Maya so I can tell on you to your dad for being a meanie back."
He was worried for a second that he'd crossed a line with that one given how Miles went quiet before making a weird noise. However, once he looked at his face, he could see it was straining against bubbling laughter. "He-he'll tell you Yanni Yogi was the one being mean," Miles chirped back, a few snickers coming out alongside his words.
They both dissolved into laughter that finally broke the tension in the car. The rest of the ride to the airport was filled with the sort of easy feeling conversation that usually only came out when they were drinking together or the ice was being broken in the company of mutual friends. Phoenix cherished nothing more than when things finally felt easy with him, as rare as it was for both of them to truly let their guards down. Though he had the feeling if he checked one psyche lock would still remain, he didn't want to shatter the illusion by checking.
Phoenix felt his heart sink as they neared the airport, only feeling it sink further as they followed every sign until finally, they were in a packed parking lot. "Thank you for coming with me," Miles said as he got his still packed suitcase out of the trunk that had once contained Bruce Goodman's body. "It truly was more enjoyable with- hey! Stop helping. You're still injured, Wright. I can handle this just fine myself, thank you."
"Aww, fiiiiine," Phoenix pouted. "Sure you don't want me to come with you until security? It's been a while since I've been in an airport, and I could really go for an overpriced container of fruit."
Miles laughed; a genuine, warm laugh of the kind he hadn't been able to imagine hearing from him just a few short years ago. "I'll manage just fine. I have a hot date with a terrible paperback novel from the newstand, actually. Besides, the Detective will be here soon, his cab left just after we did."
"Fine, fine. Miss ya already, have fun in Borginia." Phoenix went in for a goodbye hug he wasn't entirely sure was appropriate, but was reciprocated. It felt warm and safe and far too brief before Miles handed him his keys and turned away.
"Take care of my baby until Detective Gumshoe gets here, won't you?" Miles called back. Phoenix sighed and opened the car back up. It felt so quiet without him already. Without anyone, even. This was the first time he'd been completely alone since the hospital— even at night, Pearls had been sleeping curled next to him the first night he was discharged, and both her and Maya the night after. He hoped they'd made it home alright; he felt bad that he'd not been home for them when they got back.
He checked his texts. Maya had sent him a picture of her and Pearl getting ramen an hour ago. He rolled his eyes; of course they did. And then, about half an hour ago, she'd assured him that the casserole was taken care of and would be ready for leftover-ing when he got back from his "hot date with Edgeworth."
"No hot date, I got stood up for an airplane book," he responded before putting his phone back into his pocket. His hand then brushed against the inciting incident for this whole ordeal in the first place, and the burning curiosity he'd managed to tamp down flared back up. Edgeworth was gone now, so nothing was stopping him. He unfolded the note, squinting in the dim light to make out the words before giving up and turning the car light on. Edgey couldn't kill him for draining battery if he wasn't here. And if he did? It was his funeral, after all. It would be fitting!
The eulogy was definitely tearstained now that he was looking at it properly, and a pang of guilt hit him anew. "Oh, Edgeworth…" he muttered to himself. It was messy too, with words scribbled out and rewritten all over it.
Phoenix Wright was the man who saved my life my soul me. It sounds melodramatic, but it is true, in no uncertain terms. I would not be alive if not for him, or at very least, I would be behind bars, and I'm certain many more can say the same. I truly regret nothing more than not making certain he knew that in life how very precious he was to me, and what a wonderful man he was. Truthfully, he was the best man I ever knew, and I had no idea how to continue on without my soulmate best friend him. He taught me I could be a better man, and that I could love, even still. I just wish he was here so I could tell him that properly. I hope I can live my life in a way that can make him proud until we meet again in another life.
By the time Phoenix finished reading, his own tears were splattering the napkin was well. Without thinking, he jumped out of the car and ran in the direction Miles had, sprinting almost as fast as he had when seeing the bridge ablaze. But, this time, it didn't end with him plunging into the abyss below. Instead, it ended up with him tackling his best friend in the check-in line and kissing him deeply while half the airport seemingly stared at them.
Miles returned the kiss eagerly before seemingly coming to his senses. "W-Wright? Why are you here, what-?"
"You do make me proud, and I love you too," he assured him. Miles looked almost scared for a moment before he noticed the crumpled napkin in his hand.
"I promise, if you'd actually died, I would have written a much better eulogy," Miles sheepishly assured him.
Phoenix kissed him again, a little less intensely. "I like this one. So, about that expensive fruit and paperback date?"
"…yes, well, I suppose we have much to discuss. I'll find the best f-first date spot in the airport for it, though I may have to buy you a ticket to get through security."
"Mm… maybe we could make it a family outing? I could have Larry bring Maya and Pearls up and get them tickets if we need to, and we could all hang out for a bit? I don't wanna leave them alone so long, especially not after yesterday." He didn't want to think about how expensive that would be, but this wasn't exactly the time to worry about that. He hadn't been this recklessly dumb and smitten since he ate that necklace.
Miles froze for a moment, face screwed up, deep in thought before nodding. "…my accommodations in Borginia are rather spacious," Miles offered softly. "We could make it a family vacation. I won't be working the entire time, after all, and I hear it's quite a beautiful country. Needless to say, I'll make sure all expenses are paid for."
"Hwa-?!" Phoenix squeaked. "O-okay, uh, if- if you're sure! I'll call Maya and La- wait. I left your car light on, I need to go-"
Miles cut him off with another kiss. Phoenix fought the urge to let his foot pop up like in some cheesy movie. "While normally I would be upset, I… if the battery is dead, the Detective can handle it. Let's just enjoy this for now while I get your tickets."
Phoenix put his hand on top of Miles', resting on top of the handle of his suitcase. "I love you so much."