Rising Uncertainty

Dinner?

The trial was pushed back a week. The new lawyer had to catch up and do digging of her own. That was fine with Miles, of course. It gave him time to gather more evidence with Gumshoe as well.

His thoughts were interrupted when a quiet knock came from his door. He was hesitant to open it at first, but decided to anyways. He couldn't help but be glad when he saw Phoenix standing on the other side of the door with a lopsided smile.

"I have some news," Phoenix said. "Can I come in?"

"Of course," Miles said. He stepped out of the way and allowed him to enter his office. "Would you like some tea?"

Things were still a bit tense between the two of them, but Miles wanted to make an attempt to put things behind him. He didn't want to be angry or uncomfortable with Phoenix and he was sure he felt the same way.

"Uh, sure," Phoenix said as he sat down. He brushed his pants off and looked around the office for a moment before realizing that Miles was looking at him expectantly. "Oh! O'weigh made a request for a new lawyer. He said I didn't trust him enough after we had an argument about you."

"You two argued about me?" Miles was clearly confused. He paused from pouring hot water into their cups and crossed his arms. "What did he say?"

"He claims that you've been sleeping around with the women in the office and then tried to imply that you gave me an STD." Phoenix decided that being blunt about it would be better than avoiding it.

Miles couldn't help but laugh at this. He shook his head and went back to finish his tea.

"That old man just wants to find a lousy excuse for what he did. Blaming it on me is just a way for him to avoid his own disgusting guilt," Miles said. He handed Phoenix his tea before sitting down next to him with his own. "He wants to avoid paying time for what he did because he's a damn coward."

"I know that now. I wanted to apologize for not trusting you," Phoenix said quietly. "Everything has just been a mess at the office and with things going on at home that I didn't bother to listen to you when I should have."

Miles set down his tea and sighed lightly. "Your ability to trust others is such an admirable quality, Wright. I don't blame you for trusting your client. I would never do that. I do blame you for not listening to me. I suppose that means you owe me a meal."

"What- I guess you do deserve it after all I put you through." Phoenix looked over at Miles and noticed his small smile. Miles was happy. That meant everything to Phoenix. He didn't want to ruin that moment, but there had been something bothering him. "Miles... Those men who jumped you, did you know who they were? Or maybe who hired them."

Phoenix watched Miles tense and could almost hear the cogs turning in the other man's head to figure out what to say.

"I know who sent them, but not who they were. It was clear who hired them by what they took," Miles explained. He suddenly didn't feel like drinking his tea anymore. "Don't worry about it, Wright. I've got the situation under control."

"How can I not worry about it? You were beaten and dumped somewhere and you don't want me to worry?" Phoenix asked. He clearly wasn't angry, just surprised. He noticed Miles clenched fists and rested a hand on his shoulder. "I can't just not worry about you after that."

Miles turned and looked at him for a moment before sighing quietly. He relaxed a little bit and let his hands lie flat against his legs.

"That means a lot to me, truly. I promise I will be careful," Miles said. "And if I'm not, I'll come crawling to your doorstep desperately again."

It was clearly a joke, but Phoenix felt like Miles was taking a jab at himself. He knew him too well to not notice.

"I wouldn't mind if you turned up to my place completely fine," Phoenix said. "Y'know cause we're friends."

"I may have to take you up on that offer sometime." Miles allowed himself to relax fully again and smile.

"I'd be happy to have you over," Phoenix chuckled lightly. "Maybe you could come over tonight...?"

"That sounds like a splendid idea, Wright. I would like to have dinner first though," he said with a small chuckle.

"Obviously, but, uh, you'll have to drive," Phoenix awkwardly pointed out.

"That's alright. I can drive you by here in the morning so you can grab your bicycle," Miles said as he stood up. He turned and extended a hand towards Phoenix. "It's only fair after all."

Phoenix grabbed his hand and allowed Miles to open the door for him. 'What a gentlemen.' Phoenix thought. They walked quietly together, their footsteps echoing in the stairwell as they made their way to the lobby. They didn't need to say anything. The silence was comfortable and neither of them wanted to ruin the peacefulness of it.
When they finally made it to the lobby, Penny popped her head out from behind her desk.

"Have a good night you two!" She said enthusiastically. She waved at them before they walked out the door. "I'm glad they made up."

———

The car ride wasn't as silent as their walk to the lobby. Instead, it was full of laughter and jokes to brighten each others' day. They chatted about everything and nothing at all while Miles drove.

When they arrived to the restaurant, Miles went quiet. He suddenly felt very self conscious and began to try and straighten out every wrinkle in his outfit and put every hair on his head in place.

Phoenix placed his hand gently on his shoulder, snapping his attention back to him.

"Hey, you look fine," Phoenix said.

"Fine is not what I aim for," Miles muttered. "Perfection is the only acceptable way to present myself."

"Miles, you're fine," he said, squeezing his shoulder. Miles finally stopped. "If it means anything, I think you look perfect."

Miles' cheeks turned pink and he finally stepped out of his car and waited for Phoenix, not saying a single word in response. He definitely had not expected Phoenix to say anything like that and the fact that he had made him very flustered and-

"Miles, you okay? We can take a rain check if you need to," Phoenix said. He looked concerned.

"No, no," he said shaking his head. "I'm quite alright. I was just thinking about how lovely the night is."

"It is beautiful," Phoenix agreed. "I think the night will stay beautiful."

With that they entered the restaurant and let their beautiful night begin.