So tired.
Title: Stinger
Series: Disclosureverse
Summary: Miles tries to make it work.
Fandom: Gyakuten Saiban
Word Count: 2158
Rating/Warnings: R, AU, institutional D/s, sexualized violence
Pairing: Edgeworth/Phoenix
A/N: Direct sequel to "Disclosure". Just a universe over from ours, sexual attraction- and society by extension- works in terms of tops vs. subs instead of male vs. female. Based on, well, quite a lot of people's AUs, see "Disclosure" for full credits. God this took so much longer than I intended. This was also supposed to be the happy chapter... but we see how that turned out. Did you ever work on a fic so much that you just couldn't look at it any more? Yeah. Only one more chapter before the timeskip (lol spoilers?).
Edgeworth stood uncomfortably in the defense lobby, waiting for State vs. Bye to begin. By all rights, he should have felt quite fortunate; Phoenix was here, Maya was down for a visit- it wasn't even his trial. What he had decided was definitely bothering him was Phoenix's newest friend. Something about the day's defense made Edgeworth's skin crawl.
"Wright," Edgeworth said, his lips pursed in displeasure. "What good can possibly come from being friends with a man who requires the members of his firm to wear his necklace?"
"That's just a rumor," Phoenix replied. "I don't even think people actually do that anymore."
"I missed something," Maya interjected.
Edgeworth and Phoenix shared a look. "It's a kind of choke collar," Edgeworth explained. "Apprentices used to wear them, back when people actually took apprenticeships."
"It's not a collar," Phoenix countered. "It hangs down loose on your neck."
"But all you have to do is pull, and it's a collar."
"That's… not okay," Maya replied, her face contorting into an expression of disgust.
"Nor is it legal," Edgeworth added.
"It's not mandatory, I assure you," came a softly accented voice from behind him. He didn't bother not rolling his eyes.
Kristoph stepped forward. "Phoenix, Miss Fey," he greeted them in turn. "Herr Edgeworth."
"Gavin," Edgeworth said coldly; a slight quirk of Kristoph's lips said that the insult did not go unnoticed.
"I was hoping I would run into you," Kristoph said to Phoenix, laying a hand on his shoulder. Edgeworth's hands itched; he wanted nothing more than to backhand the man and have done with it.
His discomfort was apparently palpable. Maya coughed once, sounding overly loud and not entirely genuine. "I just remembered," Phoenix said suddenly. "Gumshoe called, he said to tell you that you have a meeting with-"
"Uh, Steve MacGuffin," Maya supplied.
"At, um," he looked at his watch, "ten thirty."
Edgeworth crossed his arms. "That's five minutes from now."
"Better get going then!" Maya said quickly. Kristoph's eyebrow was firmly raised, his mouth twisted into a bemused smile.
"C'mon, I'll walk you to your car," Phoenix said, taking Edgeworth by the elbow. "See you on Sunday, Kristoph!" he called over his shoulder, leading Edgeworth away.
"Really, I don't see why Gumshoe can't call me himself," he sighed. "It's not like he doesn't have my phone number. I don't think even he could have lost six separate post-it notes." Edgeworth suddenly realized that they had veered off into a little used corridor. "Stop messing about, Wright. I'm going to be late for my meeting."
Phoenix rolled his eyes. "There is no MacGuffin."
"Then why are we here?"
He sighed, exasperated. "Because if I'd left you and Kristoph together for five more minutes, you'd have punched him in the face."
"That's not true," Edgeworth replied, frowning. "Not entirely, anyway." Phoenix rolled his eyes at that. "How do you expect me to react? He was-" he broke off, pressing his fingertips to his temple briefly. "He was touching you. Don't you think he's doing it on purpose?"
"Why would he be doing it on purpose?"
He wants you, you idiot, Edgeworth wanted to say, but he restrained himself. "He's figured it out, Phoenix," he said, lowering his voice. "You haven't-" He let the question hang.
Phoenix shook his head. "He's got an uncanny knack for seeing the obvious," he deadpanned.
Edgeworth hugged himself with one arm, looking away. "I don't like how he looks at you."
"If it bothers you so much, then order me not to see him," he replied, exasperated. "Otherwise, he's my friend, and there's nothing to be done about it."
Edgeworth could think of several things to be done about it, but all the really fun ones kept ending up with him in jail, disbarred, or both. He looked away, snorting softly.
Phoenix caught Edgeworth's hand, bringing it up to rest on his neck. His fingertips brushed the stitching of the leather collar underneath Phoenix's shirt, sliding over the heavy gold ring set into it. Phoenix looked for a moment as if he might say something, but he stopped short, casting his eyes downward.
Sighing, Edgeworth pulled Phoenix forward by his collar, kissing him firmly before releasing him. "You can't use that to win every argument, you know."
"Are you sure?"
"Don't be cute." Something caught in Edgeworth's mind. "What's on Sunday?"
"Lunch," Phoenix said, scratching the back of his neck in an oddly bashful motion.
"Phoenix," Edgeworth warned, stepping uncomfortably close.
Phoenix swallowed. "You've gotten very good at looming, did you know that?"
"I've been practicing. And don't distract me."
"Right."
Edgeworth drew a finger slowly down Phoenix's neck, hooking it under his collar. "When you come home, I'll be very upset."
"R-really now?"
He smiled, looking only slightly evil. "Implacable."
--
"You can't order a burger for brunch, Maya," Edgeworth said mildly, flipping through his menu.
"And why not, Mister Edgeworth?"
He looked up, amused. "Because it's brunch, Miss Fey."
"Fine," she replied, obviously amused. "Ooh, noodles!" He rolled his eyes at her.
He tapped his foot nervously underneath the table, admonishing himself to relax. He was out for a nice meal with a friend. No reason to think about Phoenix. Or Gavin, for that matter. And especially not Gavin's hands being all over his-
"So when are you going to tell me what's wrong with you?" Maya asked lightly, interrupting his reverie.
His foot stopped; he looked up at her, but she was still looking at her menu, smiling. "What?"
"You keep squirming and sighing."
"Is keen observation one of the secrets of Kurain?" he deflected.
"It doesn't have to be keen when you're so obvious about it. Wouldn't that be awesome, though?" He frowned at that, which only made Maya giggle. "If you don't talk to me about it, who are you going to talk to? Pess?"
As loath as he sometimes was to admit it, she was right. At some point, Maya, for reasons he still didn't quite understand, had shifted from being Phoenix's best friend to being their best friend. It was still somewhat awkward, but he couldn't help but feel a little grateful for it.
"It's about Mr. Gavin, right?" she asked, trying and failing not to sound excited.
"What makes you say that?" Edgeworth replied, picking at a stray thread on the tablecloth.
She shrugged. "Mostly the way you two always look like you're going to beat the crap out of each other."
Edgeworth didn't have a response for that. "He didn't say anything about me after I left, did he?" he asked, aping casual.
Maya laughed. "He left right after you did. This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with him and Nick, would it?" She amended that. "Not that there is any him and Nick, because Nick is totally head over heels for you and all."
He couldn't help but smile at that. "Phoenix," he chose his words carefully, "isn't exactly what I'm used to."
Maya rested her elbows on the table, leaning forward. "Yeah?" Edgeworth hesitated, looking away. "C'mon," she chided, rolling her eyes. "It's just us tops."
He snorted a bit at that, shaking his head. "When I was nineteen, Manfred Von Karma decided I deserved to have my first sub. So, naturally, he arranged it for me." He caught the disgusted look on her face. "He was a very particular man. I don't think he could have ever left something like that to chance."
"Creepy."
"His name was Wilhelm," Edgeworth continued, wincing a little at the memory. "He used to follow me around like a puppy. He slept at the foot of my bed, for Christ's sake."
"Some people would call that a plus," Maya pointed out.
"Not me. I couldn't even talk to him- he didn't have an opinion on anything- at all. He just listened to whatever I said and parroted it back to me. It was ridiculous, but it," Edgeworth stopped. "It was what I thought I was supposed to like, but I didn't. I thought I might be gay," he admitted, "but that was an unmitigated disaster."
Maya snorted at that. "What?" he sighed.
"I was just trying to picture that. It's pretty funny."
He frowned, sitting back and crossing his arms. "Hilarious."
"Sorry. Continue."
"And between that and moving back to America and getting on with my work, I didn't collar anyone again until Phoenix."
The waiter returned for their orders; the conversation broke off momentarily. Contrary to Edgeworth's advice, Maya ordered a burger anyway.
"What happened to Wilhelm?" Maya picked up after he was out of earshot.
"Franziska stole him out from under me," he said, smirking. "Everybody won."
"Wasn't she, like, twelve?"
He shrugged. "She's always been old for her age."
"But Phoenix isn't anything like that at all," Maya prodded.
"Of course not. I can actually have a conversation with Phoenix. He's smart, he's opinionated- despite his performance in court, he actually has a brain in his head."
"So you like him because he's his own man?"
He shrugged. "I suppose you could put it that way."
"And you're frustrated at him because he's his own man."
Edgeworth opened his mouth to protest, but shut it again. "I suppose so."
"So you're afraid you're the sub."
"I am not!"
"Fine," she said, holding up her hands in a gesture of surrender.
There was a pregnant pause; finally, Edgeworth made a noise of frustration. "I am, aren't I?" He sighed, exasperated. "Is it very obvious?"
"Maybe a little."
"If it were in private, I'd just deal with it myself, but, when we're alone, he's-" Edgeworth cut himself off, blushing; Maya all but clapped her hands at that. "Anyway. I can't very well punish him for not obeying me in public- what am I supposed to say? 'This is for not getting us both disbarred?'" He paused, taking a deep breath. "It's driving me insane, but it doesn't seem to bother him at all. Sometimes," he stopped, pursing his lips.
"Out with it."
"Sometimes it feels like he thinks this is just a game."
Maya grimaced at that. "Have you tried to talk to him about it?"
Edgeworth shook his head. "Of course not. That would be too easy."
"You'll work it out," she said reassuringly. "He's absolutely crazy about you. You're crazy about him. You just need more time."
Edgeworth wanted nothing so much as to believe she was right.
--
"I can explain," was Phoenix's opening line when he entered Edgeworth's study.
He looked up, startled out of his work; when had it gotten so late? "Where have you been all this time? It's past five."
"Kristoph wanted to show me a bookstore," he explained, rather breathlessly, "and my tire blew on the way home. I expect you're very angry with me." There was an unmasked note of excitement in his voice.
He frowned. "We need to talk."
"You promised," Phoenix replied, the slightest pout on his face.
Edgeworth put his reading glasses aside and stood up from his desk. "If you keep sounding like a five year old, you can forget about it." He stepped close to Phoenix, tilting his chin up to look him in the eyes. "But I did promise, didn't I?"
"Er, pretty emphatically, as I remember."
Edgeworth shrugged. "You're always easier to talk to when you're worn out, anyway. Go to the bedroom and strip- and don't leave your boxers in the hallway this time, for the love of God."
But no sooner had the words left his mouth than Phoenix's cell phone rang. He swore loudly, reaching into his pocket.
"Answer it," Edgeworth ordered.
"Phoenix Wright speaking," he said, a note of annoyance in his voice. His eyes widened as Edgeworth approached him. "Uh, yes, this is he."
Edgeworth stepped behind him, tracing his hands lightly over his chest. "I've heard some- really?" The other man caught his earlobe between his teeth, pulling at it, letting it go only to whisper in Phoenix's ear. "Oh, fuck, M- uh, what? Oh, no, it's nothing, it was the, uh, the cat-" He gasped as Edgeworth grabbed him roughly through his pants, mustering the presence of mind to cover the microphone. "Of course. No, I understand." Phoenix swallowed heavily. Now? I- yes. Of course."
Phoenix ended the call and slipped the phone back in his pocket. "I have to go," he said, with a heavy sigh, turning toward the other man.
Edgeworth blinked. "What is it?"
Phoenix scratched the back of his head. "It's a new client- or it might be- it's complicated."
"It's your choice," Edgeworth said, taking a step back, resenting how hurt his voice sounded. "It's in your contract."
"I-" Phoenix started, but he was waved off.
"You should go," the other man told him, taking a note from his wallet and passing it to him. "Take a cab. Be home before too late."
When he had gone, Edgeworth sat heavily down at his desk and tried not to feel disappointed.
Series: Disclosureverse
Summary: Miles tries to make it work.
Fandom: Gyakuten Saiban
Word Count: 2158
Rating/Warnings: R, AU, institutional D/s, sexualized violence
Pairing: Edgeworth/Phoenix
A/N: Direct sequel to "Disclosure". Just a universe over from ours, sexual attraction- and society by extension- works in terms of tops vs. subs instead of male vs. female. Based on, well, quite a lot of people's AUs, see "Disclosure" for full credits. God this took so much longer than I intended. This was also supposed to be the happy chapter... but we see how that turned out. Did you ever work on a fic so much that you just couldn't look at it any more? Yeah. Only one more chapter before the timeskip (lol spoilers?).
Edgeworth stood uncomfortably in the defense lobby, waiting for State vs. Bye to begin. By all rights, he should have felt quite fortunate; Phoenix was here, Maya was down for a visit- it wasn't even his trial. What he had decided was definitely bothering him was Phoenix's newest friend. Something about the day's defense made Edgeworth's skin crawl.
"Wright," Edgeworth said, his lips pursed in displeasure. "What good can possibly come from being friends with a man who requires the members of his firm to wear his necklace?"
"That's just a rumor," Phoenix replied. "I don't even think people actually do that anymore."
"I missed something," Maya interjected.
Edgeworth and Phoenix shared a look. "It's a kind of choke collar," Edgeworth explained. "Apprentices used to wear them, back when people actually took apprenticeships."
"It's not a collar," Phoenix countered. "It hangs down loose on your neck."
"But all you have to do is pull, and it's a collar."
"That's… not okay," Maya replied, her face contorting into an expression of disgust.
"Nor is it legal," Edgeworth added.
"It's not mandatory, I assure you," came a softly accented voice from behind him. He didn't bother not rolling his eyes.
Kristoph stepped forward. "Phoenix, Miss Fey," he greeted them in turn. "Herr Edgeworth."
"Gavin," Edgeworth said coldly; a slight quirk of Kristoph's lips said that the insult did not go unnoticed.
"I was hoping I would run into you," Kristoph said to Phoenix, laying a hand on his shoulder. Edgeworth's hands itched; he wanted nothing more than to backhand the man and have done with it.
His discomfort was apparently palpable. Maya coughed once, sounding overly loud and not entirely genuine. "I just remembered," Phoenix said suddenly. "Gumshoe called, he said to tell you that you have a meeting with-"
"Uh, Steve MacGuffin," Maya supplied.
"At, um," he looked at his watch, "ten thirty."
Edgeworth crossed his arms. "That's five minutes from now."
"Better get going then!" Maya said quickly. Kristoph's eyebrow was firmly raised, his mouth twisted into a bemused smile.
"C'mon, I'll walk you to your car," Phoenix said, taking Edgeworth by the elbow. "See you on Sunday, Kristoph!" he called over his shoulder, leading Edgeworth away.
"Really, I don't see why Gumshoe can't call me himself," he sighed. "It's not like he doesn't have my phone number. I don't think even he could have lost six separate post-it notes." Edgeworth suddenly realized that they had veered off into a little used corridor. "Stop messing about, Wright. I'm going to be late for my meeting."
Phoenix rolled his eyes. "There is no MacGuffin."
"Then why are we here?"
He sighed, exasperated. "Because if I'd left you and Kristoph together for five more minutes, you'd have punched him in the face."
"That's not true," Edgeworth replied, frowning. "Not entirely, anyway." Phoenix rolled his eyes at that. "How do you expect me to react? He was-" he broke off, pressing his fingertips to his temple briefly. "He was touching you. Don't you think he's doing it on purpose?"
"Why would he be doing it on purpose?"
He wants you, you idiot, Edgeworth wanted to say, but he restrained himself. "He's figured it out, Phoenix," he said, lowering his voice. "You haven't-" He let the question hang.
Phoenix shook his head. "He's got an uncanny knack for seeing the obvious," he deadpanned.
Edgeworth hugged himself with one arm, looking away. "I don't like how he looks at you."
"If it bothers you so much, then order me not to see him," he replied, exasperated. "Otherwise, he's my friend, and there's nothing to be done about it."
Edgeworth could think of several things to be done about it, but all the really fun ones kept ending up with him in jail, disbarred, or both. He looked away, snorting softly.
Phoenix caught Edgeworth's hand, bringing it up to rest on his neck. His fingertips brushed the stitching of the leather collar underneath Phoenix's shirt, sliding over the heavy gold ring set into it. Phoenix looked for a moment as if he might say something, but he stopped short, casting his eyes downward.
Sighing, Edgeworth pulled Phoenix forward by his collar, kissing him firmly before releasing him. "You can't use that to win every argument, you know."
"Are you sure?"
"Don't be cute." Something caught in Edgeworth's mind. "What's on Sunday?"
"Lunch," Phoenix said, scratching the back of his neck in an oddly bashful motion.
"Phoenix," Edgeworth warned, stepping uncomfortably close.
Phoenix swallowed. "You've gotten very good at looming, did you know that?"
"I've been practicing. And don't distract me."
"Right."
Edgeworth drew a finger slowly down Phoenix's neck, hooking it under his collar. "When you come home, I'll be very upset."
"R-really now?"
He smiled, looking only slightly evil. "Implacable."
--
"You can't order a burger for brunch, Maya," Edgeworth said mildly, flipping through his menu.
"And why not, Mister Edgeworth?"
He looked up, amused. "Because it's brunch, Miss Fey."
"Fine," she replied, obviously amused. "Ooh, noodles!" He rolled his eyes at her.
He tapped his foot nervously underneath the table, admonishing himself to relax. He was out for a nice meal with a friend. No reason to think about Phoenix. Or Gavin, for that matter. And especially not Gavin's hands being all over his-
"So when are you going to tell me what's wrong with you?" Maya asked lightly, interrupting his reverie.
His foot stopped; he looked up at her, but she was still looking at her menu, smiling. "What?"
"You keep squirming and sighing."
"Is keen observation one of the secrets of Kurain?" he deflected.
"It doesn't have to be keen when you're so obvious about it. Wouldn't that be awesome, though?" He frowned at that, which only made Maya giggle. "If you don't talk to me about it, who are you going to talk to? Pess?"
As loath as he sometimes was to admit it, she was right. At some point, Maya, for reasons he still didn't quite understand, had shifted from being Phoenix's best friend to being their best friend. It was still somewhat awkward, but he couldn't help but feel a little grateful for it.
"It's about Mr. Gavin, right?" she asked, trying and failing not to sound excited.
"What makes you say that?" Edgeworth replied, picking at a stray thread on the tablecloth.
She shrugged. "Mostly the way you two always look like you're going to beat the crap out of each other."
Edgeworth didn't have a response for that. "He didn't say anything about me after I left, did he?" he asked, aping casual.
Maya laughed. "He left right after you did. This wouldn't happen to have anything to do with him and Nick, would it?" She amended that. "Not that there is any him and Nick, because Nick is totally head over heels for you and all."
He couldn't help but smile at that. "Phoenix," he chose his words carefully, "isn't exactly what I'm used to."
Maya rested her elbows on the table, leaning forward. "Yeah?" Edgeworth hesitated, looking away. "C'mon," she chided, rolling her eyes. "It's just us tops."
He snorted a bit at that, shaking his head. "When I was nineteen, Manfred Von Karma decided I deserved to have my first sub. So, naturally, he arranged it for me." He caught the disgusted look on her face. "He was a very particular man. I don't think he could have ever left something like that to chance."
"Creepy."
"His name was Wilhelm," Edgeworth continued, wincing a little at the memory. "He used to follow me around like a puppy. He slept at the foot of my bed, for Christ's sake."
"Some people would call that a plus," Maya pointed out.
"Not me. I couldn't even talk to him- he didn't have an opinion on anything- at all. He just listened to whatever I said and parroted it back to me. It was ridiculous, but it," Edgeworth stopped. "It was what I thought I was supposed to like, but I didn't. I thought I might be gay," he admitted, "but that was an unmitigated disaster."
Maya snorted at that. "What?" he sighed.
"I was just trying to picture that. It's pretty funny."
He frowned, sitting back and crossing his arms. "Hilarious."
"Sorry. Continue."
"And between that and moving back to America and getting on with my work, I didn't collar anyone again until Phoenix."
The waiter returned for their orders; the conversation broke off momentarily. Contrary to Edgeworth's advice, Maya ordered a burger anyway.
"What happened to Wilhelm?" Maya picked up after he was out of earshot.
"Franziska stole him out from under me," he said, smirking. "Everybody won."
"Wasn't she, like, twelve?"
He shrugged. "She's always been old for her age."
"But Phoenix isn't anything like that at all," Maya prodded.
"Of course not. I can actually have a conversation with Phoenix. He's smart, he's opinionated- despite his performance in court, he actually has a brain in his head."
"So you like him because he's his own man?"
He shrugged. "I suppose you could put it that way."
"And you're frustrated at him because he's his own man."
Edgeworth opened his mouth to protest, but shut it again. "I suppose so."
"So you're afraid you're the sub."
"I am not!"
"Fine," she said, holding up her hands in a gesture of surrender.
There was a pregnant pause; finally, Edgeworth made a noise of frustration. "I am, aren't I?" He sighed, exasperated. "Is it very obvious?"
"Maybe a little."
"If it were in private, I'd just deal with it myself, but, when we're alone, he's-" Edgeworth cut himself off, blushing; Maya all but clapped her hands at that. "Anyway. I can't very well punish him for not obeying me in public- what am I supposed to say? 'This is for not getting us both disbarred?'" He paused, taking a deep breath. "It's driving me insane, but it doesn't seem to bother him at all. Sometimes," he stopped, pursing his lips.
"Out with it."
"Sometimes it feels like he thinks this is just a game."
Maya grimaced at that. "Have you tried to talk to him about it?"
Edgeworth shook his head. "Of course not. That would be too easy."
"You'll work it out," she said reassuringly. "He's absolutely crazy about you. You're crazy about him. You just need more time."
Edgeworth wanted nothing so much as to believe she was right.
--
"I can explain," was Phoenix's opening line when he entered Edgeworth's study.
He looked up, startled out of his work; when had it gotten so late? "Where have you been all this time? It's past five."
"Kristoph wanted to show me a bookstore," he explained, rather breathlessly, "and my tire blew on the way home. I expect you're very angry with me." There was an unmasked note of excitement in his voice.
He frowned. "We need to talk."
"You promised," Phoenix replied, the slightest pout on his face.
Edgeworth put his reading glasses aside and stood up from his desk. "If you keep sounding like a five year old, you can forget about it." He stepped close to Phoenix, tilting his chin up to look him in the eyes. "But I did promise, didn't I?"
"Er, pretty emphatically, as I remember."
Edgeworth shrugged. "You're always easier to talk to when you're worn out, anyway. Go to the bedroom and strip- and don't leave your boxers in the hallway this time, for the love of God."
But no sooner had the words left his mouth than Phoenix's cell phone rang. He swore loudly, reaching into his pocket.
"Answer it," Edgeworth ordered.
"Phoenix Wright speaking," he said, a note of annoyance in his voice. His eyes widened as Edgeworth approached him. "Uh, yes, this is he."
Edgeworth stepped behind him, tracing his hands lightly over his chest. "I've heard some- really?" The other man caught his earlobe between his teeth, pulling at it, letting it go only to whisper in Phoenix's ear. "Oh, fuck, M- uh, what? Oh, no, it's nothing, it was the, uh, the cat-" He gasped as Edgeworth grabbed him roughly through his pants, mustering the presence of mind to cover the microphone. "Of course. No, I understand." Phoenix swallowed heavily. Now? I- yes. Of course."
Phoenix ended the call and slipped the phone back in his pocket. "I have to go," he said, with a heavy sigh, turning toward the other man.
Edgeworth blinked. "What is it?"
Phoenix scratched the back of his head. "It's a new client- or it might be- it's complicated."
"It's your choice," Edgeworth said, taking a step back, resenting how hurt his voice sounded. "It's in your contract."
"I-" Phoenix started, but he was waved off.
"You should go," the other man told him, taking a note from his wallet and passing it to him. "Take a cab. Be home before too late."
When he had gone, Edgeworth sat heavily down at his desk and tried not to feel disappointed.