Promise You'll Stay

1 | Invitation

The events of the Misty Fey murder trial had finally come to a close.

Maya and Pearl had returned to Kurain to calm the frantic people of Medium Valley, Godot and Iris had been jailed, and Dahlia and her vengeful spirit were gone for good (and it seemed, unfortunately, that Mia Fey had left this world with her). The effects of the case were spiraling throughout the country like shockwaves, and familiar names were constantly in the headlines. Phoenix himself found that he had to avoid paparazzi and reporters from time to time.

Everything had peaked, had exploded in a way he never could have anticipated, and winding back down from it was downright surreal. And so Phoenix ended up more or less in hiding, trying to evade reporters and questions from people he hardly knew. He needed time to process it all.

He was not alone in this sentiment. Miles Edgeworth delayed his travels for a short while in favor of staying in LA to tie up loose ends— he'd gotten himself in a bit of trouble for taking Phoenix's place in the courtroom and was now suffering the consequences, something that racked Phoenix with guilt every time he thought on it.

Edgeworth had dropped everything, had chartered a private jet and flown back all the way from Europe. He'd acted as a defense attorney in an effort to save Iris, and had faced his greatest fear head-on in trying to help solve the case. He'd watched from the gallery, and congratulated Phoenix when it was finally over. He'd done more than enough.

And yet, here the prosecutor was, standing awkwardly at the door to Phoenix's apartment.

"...Edgeworth? What are you doing here?"

The question sounded accusatory somehow, and Phoenix wished he could take it back. He always ended up wishing he could rephrase half of what he said to Edgeworth. Sometimes conversations with the man were agonizing, like pulling teeth or defusing a bomb, if only because he was so unaccustomed to having people openly care for him. When Phoenix remembered that— remembered what they had been through together and all that Edgeworth had suffered— he couldn't feel any anger towards him.

"I can't check on my colleagues?" Edgeworth said without looking him in the eye, and Phoenix scoffed and felt his nose scrunch up.

Colleagues. How sweet.

"Didja mean friends?" He gestured at himself.

There was a long silence.

"Yes," Edgeworth grumbled, and Phoenix felt his mild annoyance dissipate. He managed a smile, and only then noticed the bags under the other man's eyes and the slightly crooked slant of his signature cravat.

"...Why don't you come in? You look tired. I can make you some tea. I only have the stuff Maya drinks, though."

"I suppose it will have to do," Edgeworth responded. He seemed off somehow, like his voice was far away and his thoughts accompanied it, but he stepped past Phoenix into the tiny apartment and made his way to the couch.

Edgeworth had been there a few times before, usually to discuss a case or give him something he had forgotten in the prosecutor's offices, and each time he visited he looked less impressed. It was like he had expected the place to improve itself somehow to become more presentable the next time he saw it, but it was instead always in the same state of disarray. It was not messy, but it was cluttered. This only meant that it wasn't gross, but that it still wasn't exactly appealing. Phoenix felt a blush rise to his cheeks as he hurriedly cleared a space on the couch and moved the miscellaneous items to the closet he shoved everything in.

This time, Edgeworth did not comment on it, and took a seat without inspecting it for crumbs the way he usually did.

Phoenix brewed the tea, and Edgeworth sat and said nothing, though he did remove his coat and his cravat and lean back into the couch to rub his temples, and Phoenix heard his bones creak occasionally when he stretched. He set the cups down on the coffee table and took a seat on the couch beside the other man. There was another stretch of silence, and Edgeworth rubbed the space where his eyes met the bridge of his nose and sighed.