Our Appetite // Narumitsu Fanfiction

New Opportunities

Phoenix feebly cleared his throat and hung his head even lower as he quietly mumbled;
"I-I think I'm bi," He softly answered, wincing as he heard a round of giggles echo at the back of the room;
"You're bi?" Ms Carlton rose an eyebrow at her student - who was now extremely red-faced - and tilted her head slightly in an amused manner.
"W-Wait, no...! I-I'm..." The defence-attorney-to-be flung his head up, his eyes skimming the classroom in desperation for some sort of source of inspiration.
"I'm s-straight! I-I swear I am..." Phoenix's voice faltered as he noticed all of the snickering occurring in front of him.

He'd already made his mistake, and there was no going back.

Miles leant back on his creaky wooden chair, trying his best to force the edges of his lips to not form some sort of relieved smile. He knew just as well as everyone else that his best-friend had meant what he'd said at first about being bisexual, and had only changed his answer in order to avoid the inevitable humiliation of his original answer - not that it made any difference. One of the girls at the front's mouth became a sadistic, devilish, smirk as she jeered;
"So you're gay!" Phoenix timidly widened his eyes and instinctively reached out to clutch his stomach, feeling unnaturally queasy.
"It's alright. No matter what you may have said, I'm sure you'll find the perfect girl, just for you." The teacher sweetly smiled, a hint of disgust playing in her expression, causing the spiky-haired boy to curtly nod, trying his best to avoid any sort of communication and eye-contact with his superior, feeling salty liquid threatening to spill over out of his eyes. They didn't understand. None of them would ever understand.

Edgeworth felt a wave of sorrow and guilt wash over him as he watched his forlorn best-friend attempt to make a frantic dash back to his desk, being stopped every second as he was submerged in a sea of hatred and hurtful jokes about him and his sexuality, too afraid and alone to even risk a glance at the silvery-haired boy as he silently perched on the edge of his chair, his cheeks flushing with embarrassment as the students sat around him began passing paper-notes around.
"Alright, class." Ms Carlton's dark, hazel-brown, eyes hadn't wavered from Phoenix ever since he'd mentioned the word 'bi';
"You're all dismissed. It's lunch-time. I expect a 200 word essay on each of your sexualities by Thursday." She lazily groped for the laptop on her desk as she heard the same, unison, melancholy groan of the students' dismay at receiving homework as she left the room, occasionally stopped by sweeping herds of wildebeest trampling past her - which were also known as class 9TB.
"Aren't you going to come and hang out with us at break, Miles?" One of the greasy, brown-haired, girls casually leant upon the prosecutor-to-be's desk along with her friend;
"Yeah, the boys say they've got some cigarettes we can all use - it'll be a laugh!"
"Come on, Miles. Besides, you don't want to be stuck in here again with... Him, do you?" Phoenix, who's head was now slumped upon the scratched wooden desk in shame and emotional disarray, allowed a tear or 2 to slowly dribble down his his cheeks onto the material as he heard their conversation, knowing exactly what they meant.
"No, thank you."
"Great! So you'll come? We should ge-"
"I meant no, thank you, to your request. I'd rather stay in here."
"What, with him? The gay b-"
"Don't refer to him in that way." Miles firmly stated as he folded his arms;
"Now, if you would kindly leave..."
"Oh, I see how it is. You prefer that second-class loser to us, do you? Well - get this! We don't want to share our cigarettes with you! Come on, Steph. We're leaving these 2 poor excuses for human beings!" The 2 girls reluctantly left the room, swishing their hair in an attempt to look 'cool', however all it did was show Miles how desperate they were to gain popularity and be doted upon by others. Fools.

Phoenix remained as silent as he could be during the mini argument, a wave of relief lapping the insides of his mind as he overheard Edgeworth sticking up for him, his heart pounding and causing him to feel increasingly light-headed. However, despite this, the defence-attorney-to-be still felt too anxious to lift his head again, for fear of being slapped by reality and being put in his rightful place by cruelty once again. What if he'd just been hallucinating? What if Miles hadn't actually stuck up for him?
What if-

"Phoenix, are you alright?"

His train of thought shattered as a familiar, gentle sound caressed his ear-lobes.