Narumayo One-Shots (Phoenix x Maya)

Taken (Part 2)

March 5th

8:07 PM

Courthouse Entrance

"Ugh! I've forgotten how long these trials take! I'm sooo tired." Maya complained as she slumped down the many marble steps of the courthouse. "Yeah. This one took especially long though. Edgeworth was really persistent today." Phoenix replied. He looked down at his feet to make sure he didn't trip on the steps. It didn't look like it, but he was feeling really tired. His legs were sore and weak from standing around for 8 hours.

Maya smiled up at him. "You really nailed it today though. You didn't even bluff that much! Not bad for an old man." The two reached the bottom of the steps and turned left. The two teenage girls, Pearl and Trucy, were ahead of them already, skipping, laughing and getting their sillies out after being cooped up in that stuffy courtroom.

"Old man? I'm 34!" Phoenix exclaimed, comically crossing his arms. Maya stopped and stood on her tiptoes, poking the corner of his eye with her index finger. "Would a young man have crow's feet?" She continued to poke the rest of his face and his arms, blowing raspberries.

Phoenix flinched. "Stop!" he said giggling slightly. He then started to poke Maya's side with both of his index fingers, which made her squeal. Soon, the two "adults" were poking and tickling each other in the middle of the sidewalk laughing and squealing so loudly, that an innocent bystander would catch secondhand embarrassment from witnessing such a ridiculous sight.

The two finally ceased their poking war when Phoenix noticed that Pearl and Trucy were way ahead of them. So far ahead in fact, that only thing he could see was Trucy's top hat illuminating from the headlamps. "Hey Trucy! Pearls! Wait for us, please!" he cried as loud as he could.

He could see Trucy and Pearls' heads turn around to face the two. They stopped at the crosswalk. "Sorry Daddy!" He heard Trucy call out back to him. Maya huffed. "How did they get so far ahead of us?" She picked up the pace. She turned her head to the right and expected to see Phoenix walking beside her but noticed that he was looking down at the ground with a pensive look on his face. He seemed deep in thought.

She turned around and waited for Phoenix to catch up with her. He noticed her stopping for him and looked at her with a half-hearted smile. "Hey, are you okay?" Maya said softly. The two started walking again. "Y-Yeah, just thinking." He said. "About what?" Maya asked looking up at him. Phoenix broke eye contact and looked back down at the pavement.

"Just...don't you think this whole case is a little weird?" "How?" "Well, Edgeworth made some really good points...about our client today and how it was super suspicious that he wasn't at all in grief that someone shot his wife..." Phoenix zoned out for a second, "...and well when we were investigating our client's office the other day, something...didn't feel right." Maya cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?" Phoenix shook his head. "Nah, it's probably nothing. I'm just...I don't know. Maybe you're right, Maya. Maybe...I am getting old." He followed up his self-deprecating joke with that little chuckle Maya loved so much.

Maya looked up at his eyes. She suddenly felt really bad that she made fun of his wrinkles. Although he wasn't as young looking as he once was, she still thought that he was the most handsome man she had ever seen. She took a risk and hugged his arm, giving it a tight squeeze. She laid her head on his surprisingly muscular bicep. "It's going to be okay, Nick. Don't worry."

Phoenix felt his face heat up. Maya had always been physically clingy, but she only clung onto him out of fear and never in a way that was...affectionate. Phoenix found his confidence flee. "Th-Thanks Maya. That means a lot coming from you." He muttered quietly. The two approached the end of the street where Trucy and Pearl were standing.