Pillow Talk
Title: Pillow Talk
Pairing: Phoenix/Edgeworth
Rating: Teen. Just some kissing, nothing serious.
Word Count: 2,858
Synopsis: In that lazy hour before drifting off to sleep, two lovers can talk of many things...
“Hey, Miles...”
Miles Edgeworth had been sinking into the realms of sleep, his way there sped by the warmth of his lover lying next to him and the cosy double-tog comforter covering them both. It was a real effort to respond to the voice brushing the edges of his awareness - he opened his mouth, but the words never made it out; he’d fallen back into a doze.
“Miles?”
This time he managed a thick “Mmmh” in reply.
...
...
...
“When did you find out you were gay?”
This earnest question took a few moments to register, his brain padded as it was by woolly semi-consciousness.
“Mmmh,” he said again, drifting off, but he was vaguely aware of an expectant silence - Phoenix was still waiting for his answer. His eyes opened, adjusting to the darkness of the bedroom. “That’s a bit out of the blue, isn’t it?” he mumbled, voice blurred with sleep.
“Yeah,” Phoenix admitted. “I was just thinking, that’s all.”
Actually he’d wanted to ask Edgeworth that question for a while, but had never found the right opportunity. They’d been seeing each other for a month and a half now, yet Phoenix still felt as if he knew very little about his new partner and found it awkward to ask. He probably knew more than most after all they had been through, but it was still a tiny part of a bigger, more complex picture. Sometimes he felt that Gumshoe was more clued up than he was about some things ... though admittedly Edgeworth’s sexual preferences were unlikely to be one of them.
“Can’t you just keep your thoughts to yourself?” Edgeworth’s tone was sarcastic but didn’t have any real bite to it - he was still half-asleep.
“Well, I tried, but... I just feel like talking, I dunno why.” Phoenix had half-regretted breaking the comfortable silence with his question but it felt like the right time to try it, in that lazy half-hour they had together before falling asleep.
Edgeworth sighed.
“You’re a complete nuisance, Phoenix,” he grumbled, propping himself up on one elbow to look over at his partner. Phoenix was lying on his back in the bed, arms behind his head, and squinting into the darkness Edgeworth could see a philosophical expression on the defense attorney’s face. “I’m not going to get any peace till I answer, am I?” he said, rubbing one eye.
“Well, you don’t have to...”
“You’ll only ask me again later if I tell you to shut up and go back to sleep. I was about fourteen, but it hardly mattered because there was nobody around to hear about it - I was being home-schooled. Does that satisfy your curiosity?”
Phoenix was silent for a few moments, mulling this over.
“Gee, that must’ve been pretty hard, not being able to talk to anybody about it. It must’ve been really confusing,” he said.
“It was hardly confusing,” Edgeworth corrected him. “It was merely a realisation that girls weren’t my interest; I wasn’t particularly concerned by it. Perhaps the fact I accepted it early on helped me conceal it from other people as and when required.”
“So not even Franziska knew about it?” Phoenix asked. “I thought you two were pretty close when you were young.”
“Don’t be foolish,” Edgeworth rebuked him. “Think about it - when I was fourteen and coming to those kinds of conclusions, Franziska was about seven. She wouldn’t have any understanding of such matters and even if she did she would have found the idea abhorrent, imperfect. Though I suspect that...” he checked himself, falling silent.
“Suspect what?” Phoenix asked.
Edgeworth hesitated. He’d never really told anybody this theory of his before. It was hardly dinnertime conversation, after all. But it was just him and Phoenix here - sharing his private speculations was unlikely to do any harm in this quarter, so he continued,
“...that, given her attitude towards men in general, she leans towards the flip side of the coin herself.”
It took Phoenix a little while to process the meaning of this, given Edgeworth’s tendency for abstract euphemisms, but when he did his eyes widened with surprise.
“You think Franziska’s...?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if it turned out to be the case, though I think she would have a very hard time coming to terms with it.”
“You’re telling me!” Phoenix exclaimed. “If the thought even crossed her mind I think she’d go out and whip a few women just to prove she doesn’t like them either.”
Edgeworth snorted in response to that.
“So, you said 'there was nobody around to hear about it' when you first realised,” Phoenix reasoned, “but something must’ve happened to make you start thinking you were gay - that’s gotta mean you had a crush on somebody back then, right?”
“Must you use such frivolous language?” Edgeworth said sourly. “You sound like a lovestruck teenager.”
“Ahhhh well, I hang around Maya and Pearl too much,” Phoenix brushed it off. “So that means you did, am I right? Who was it, one of your tutors?”
“You’re such a damned harpy when it comes to gossip - it’s none of your business.”
“It so was, that Psyche-Lock says it all!” Phoenix said gleefully.
Edgeworth immediately sat upright in bed, looking around.
“Where’s that blasted magatama?” he demanded. “It leaves the room, NOW.”
There was a short pause, then Phoenix started chuckling. Edgeworth immediately realised why.
“You bastard. That’s it, I’m going back to sleep, I’m not playing twenty questions anymore,” he sulked, sliding back down under the covers and turning onto his side, away from Phoenix.
Immediately he felt apologetic kisses on his back and a warm hand massaging his shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” Phoenix whispered to him. “But hey, at least I know a little more about you than I did before.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good thing,” Edgeworth murmured, eyes closed. The shoulder massage felt nice...
“Well, I don’t think it’s a bad thing either,” Phoenix said. “It’s like this scar on your shoulder - sure, I can see it, but I only found out that shoulder gets sore and needs a good massage when you told me so.”
“True,” Edgeworth conceded sleepily.
“How did you get that scar, anyway?”
“No more twenty questions, I said.”
“Aw, come on, it’s no fun having a scar if you don’t get to tell the story behind it.”
Edgeworth felt a gentle finger tracing the curved length of the white streak on his shoulder. It was so old, that scar, and he only ever saw it when he was looking in the mirror. Nobody else he’d ever slept with had asked him about it. Why did it matter so much to Phoenix to find out such things?
“It was a horse,” he said.
The finger paused.
“A horse?” Phoenix asked incredulously.
“It bit me.”
“Oww,” Phoenix winced. “But, why? Horses don’t normally bite people, do they?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Long stories are usually good ones - c’mon, spill the beans, I promise I won’t laugh if it was your fault-“
“It wasn’t my fault!” Edgeworth protested. “What do you think I did, present my shoulder for equine consumption?!”
“Well, you might’ve done!” Phoenix grinned, irrepressible.
”Fine, if you must know the full story: Franziska and I were part of a deer-hunting group back in Germany - her father encouraged it as many influentials were into the sport and it was a good way of making contacts. I’m no great horseman, so I was a whipper-in for the hounds at the time,” Edgeworth explained. “Anyway, Franziska’s not particularly kind to her mounts, and she gave the horse in question one whipping too many; it started bucking and rearing, trying to throw her off, so I went to her assistance. That was when I was bitten, but the poor creature was frightened out of its wits so it was hardly to blame for the affair.”
Phoenix whistled under his breath.
“Yeouch. Your shoulder must’ve been a mess. I dunno why you go to such lengths for her, you know... it’s not as if she ever thanks you for it.”
Still turned away from Phoenix, Edgeworth couldn’t help but break into a wry smile at this.
“I’ve never expected a ‘thankyou’ from Franziska in my life,” he said. “That’s just the von Karma way, but I suppose it’s something you would find strange, not having lived as one.”
“Uhhh... I guess,” Phoenix said slowly. “Living as a von Karma sounds like being part of a strange cult to me-“
He felt Edgeworth’s shoulder shaking under his hand, and heard quiet sniggering.
“Hey!” he protested. “What’s so funny?”
“Ah, the speculations of the uninitiated,” Edgeworth smirked. “I don’t think you’d last even a day under von Karma tutelage.”
“Probably not, but I think I’m quite happy without it, thanks.”
He traced his lover’s scar again, following the funny half-moon shape that he now recognised as teethmarks.
“That must’ve really hurt...” he said, kissing it. The skin under his lips quivered a little.
“Mmm... it did.” Edgeworth replied. “But it was a long time ago; a dim memory now. Oh, that reminds me. You’ve got a long scar on your leg, haven’t you?” he asked, turning over to face him. “I noticed it the other day.”
“Really? I’m surprised, given how frantic you were to get my trousers off.”
“Shut up - my powers of observation are impeccable, whatever the circumstances. And you got that scar from...?”
“Falling off a wall back in junior high!” Phoenix said proudly.
“I should’ve known it would be due to some sort of ineptitude on your part.” Edgeworth sighed.
“No, I was pushed! Larry wanted to get off the wall in a hurry and he knocked me down in the process.”
“Typical Butz, no consideration for others.”
“Well, the teacher spotted we were throwing eggs at the grammar school boys-“
“You revolting child.”
“Hey, that’s not fair, I wasn’t doing the throwing! I was just passing the eggs to Larry-“
“It’s always like that - you’re always the accomplice. It was your gluestick Butz smeared all over the whiteboard in 4th grade so Mrs Caxton couldn’t write on it. He couldn’t get away with half his misdeeds without your bumbling assistance.”
“You helped out once too,” Phoenix retorted.
“Once, reluctantly.”
“Liar, you were annoyed at Mr. Humphreys for giving you a detention - you masterminded the whole prank!”
“Hmph. He picked on me unfairly, I only sneezed during assembly and he destroyed my detention-free record for that. Wouldn’t you want a bit of justice?”
“I wouldn’t’ve gone quite so far as putting up photos of him snogging Miss Delaney all over the school...”
“It was merely an exposition of a truth he’d have preferred to keep secret,” Edgeworth replied airily. “It was quite simple to pull off with Butz’s knowledge of their meeting places and your mother’s photo printer handy.”
“You’re a frightening man, Miles Edgeworth.”
“Hmm? To others, perhaps, but I don’t scare you, do I?” Edgeworth reached out a hand, pushing back some of Phoenix’s locks with one finger. “I’ve made you sweat often enough in court but I don’t think I’ve ever genuinely frightened you...” he caught sight of the expression on his lover’s face and frowned, “...have I?”
“Maybe I’m just good at putting on a brave face?” Phoenix suggested.
The corner of Edgeworth’s mouth twitched upwards slightly.
“Certainly you’re good at pulling off the deadpan look when you’re making some utterly ridiculous proposition to the court,” he said mildly.
“All those acting classes I had at University came in handy for something!”
“You took acting classes?” Edgeworth blinked. “I didn’t know that.”
“Theatre was my major until second year - then I switched over to law, but I still kept up acting on the side till I had to study for my finals.”
“I see. It must have been difficult finding time to attend rehearsals as well as studying.”
“It wasn’t so bad, I managed somehow - mostly by doing stuff at the last minute,” Phoenix said with a wink. “I was really gutted I couldn’t do Avenue Q in final year though, I just had too many essays to do.”
“...Having You Queue?” Edgeworth asked, mystified.
“No, Avenue Q, you know, the musical?”
There was a moment of blank silence.
“You’ve never heard of it,” Phoenix grinned.
“Stop looking smug,” Edgeworth humphed. “So my theatre experience has been mostly classic plays and not much in the way of lay theatre-“
“It wouldn’t be your thing anyway, the songs are rather-”
“How do you know it’s not my thing?” Edgeworth said indignantly. “You seem to be under the impression that I dislike anything that involves hilarity-”
“Says the man who feels silly cheering when he’s been acquitted of murder!”
“I tried...” Edgeworth looked embarrassed. “It just... felt foolish, that’s all. So what’s this, er, Avenue Q?”
“It’s got puppets in it and stuff. It parodies a lot of popular culture - the songs are hysterical,” Phoenix explained, then in a low voice he began to sing, “If you were gay... that’d be okay... I mean 'cause hey, I like you aaa-ny-way-“ he broke off laughing at the incredulous expression on his partner’s face.
“You sing that... on stage?” Edgeworth asked, disbelieving.
“Of course!” Phoenix declared. “The entire thing is full of innuendo - that’s what makes it so funny.”
“How... lewd,” Edgeworth said with distaste. “Clearly your university’s drama club was too far down in the gutter to bring themselves up to a class of play like Othello.”
“Hey, we put that on too! I was-“ Phoenix broke off, casting his eyes down briefly.
“You were who?”
Phoenix refused to answer. Edgeworth looked at him shrewdly, reaching a hand up to touch the side of his face. It was flushed, hot with embarrassment. This time it was Edgeworth’s turn to look smug.
“You had to play a female part, didn’t you?” he said triumphantly. “Bianca, Cassio’s strumpet, that’s the only character no self-respecting girl would audition for.”
“You’re too clever for your own good,” Phoenix muttered. “Yeah, you’re right - there were a lot of good actors at Ivy U, they all wanted the male parts. I knew I didn’t have a hope in hell of getting Cassio, which was what I auditioned for, but then they offered me Bianca’s part because nobody else wanted it, and Othello’s one of my favourite plays...”
“You wanted to be in it that badly, then?”
Phoenix nodded, stifling a yawn.
“I killed my throat doing the falsetto for that, but I pulled it off! It was good fun, but it’s not something I tell people about normally - I’d get ribbed for it otherwise.”
“Maya would never let you hear the end of it,” Edgeworth agreed. “Why tell me, of all people, then? I’m hardly likely to insult you any less than Maya would - you should know better than to give me ammunition,” he said, an evil gleam in his eye.
“Hmm?” Phoenix murmured. “Ah, well, there’s plenty’f ammunition you’ve given me t’night too.”
“Pah, nothing more than sticks and stones. On a more serious note, though,” Edgeworth said, turning onto his back and resting his arms behind his head, “this little conversation has been quite pleasant. I apologise for being so taciturn when it comes to little details like those you were asking me about tonight. I suppose I withhold such things out of habit - a careless word dropped in the wrong place can cause a lot of trouble. To be honest, nobody else I’ve ever been with has shown such curiosity about me and my personal life... it came as a surprise, but then you’ve turned out to be as unpredictable a partner as you are a courtroom rival.
“Yet I like this, this spontaneity - it encourages me to become less set in my ways. It also made me realise that despite you being a very open man, I don’t really know that much about you. I suppose that will come with time, and you’re probably far more willing to put up with twenty questions than I am, I’m guessing?”
...
“...Phoenix?”
No reply - only the sound of quiet, regular breathing. Edgeworth looked over at his partner, who was curled up under the comforter, away in Cuckooland with a peaceful smile on his face.
“Damn,” Edgeworth sighed, staring up at the ceiling. “Now I'm the one who’s wide awake and feeling like talking...”
-End
Pairing: Phoenix/Edgeworth
Rating: Teen. Just some kissing, nothing serious.
Word Count: 2,858
Synopsis: In that lazy hour before drifting off to sleep, two lovers can talk of many things...
“Hey, Miles...”
Miles Edgeworth had been sinking into the realms of sleep, his way there sped by the warmth of his lover lying next to him and the cosy double-tog comforter covering them both. It was a real effort to respond to the voice brushing the edges of his awareness - he opened his mouth, but the words never made it out; he’d fallen back into a doze.
“Miles?”
This time he managed a thick “Mmmh” in reply.
...
...
...
“When did you find out you were gay?”
This earnest question took a few moments to register, his brain padded as it was by woolly semi-consciousness.
“Mmmh,” he said again, drifting off, but he was vaguely aware of an expectant silence - Phoenix was still waiting for his answer. His eyes opened, adjusting to the darkness of the bedroom. “That’s a bit out of the blue, isn’t it?” he mumbled, voice blurred with sleep.
“Yeah,” Phoenix admitted. “I was just thinking, that’s all.”
Actually he’d wanted to ask Edgeworth that question for a while, but had never found the right opportunity. They’d been seeing each other for a month and a half now, yet Phoenix still felt as if he knew very little about his new partner and found it awkward to ask. He probably knew more than most after all they had been through, but it was still a tiny part of a bigger, more complex picture. Sometimes he felt that Gumshoe was more clued up than he was about some things ... though admittedly Edgeworth’s sexual preferences were unlikely to be one of them.
“Can’t you just keep your thoughts to yourself?” Edgeworth’s tone was sarcastic but didn’t have any real bite to it - he was still half-asleep.
“Well, I tried, but... I just feel like talking, I dunno why.” Phoenix had half-regretted breaking the comfortable silence with his question but it felt like the right time to try it, in that lazy half-hour they had together before falling asleep.
Edgeworth sighed.
“You’re a complete nuisance, Phoenix,” he grumbled, propping himself up on one elbow to look over at his partner. Phoenix was lying on his back in the bed, arms behind his head, and squinting into the darkness Edgeworth could see a philosophical expression on the defense attorney’s face. “I’m not going to get any peace till I answer, am I?” he said, rubbing one eye.
“Well, you don’t have to...”
“You’ll only ask me again later if I tell you to shut up and go back to sleep. I was about fourteen, but it hardly mattered because there was nobody around to hear about it - I was being home-schooled. Does that satisfy your curiosity?”
Phoenix was silent for a few moments, mulling this over.
“Gee, that must’ve been pretty hard, not being able to talk to anybody about it. It must’ve been really confusing,” he said.
“It was hardly confusing,” Edgeworth corrected him. “It was merely a realisation that girls weren’t my interest; I wasn’t particularly concerned by it. Perhaps the fact I accepted it early on helped me conceal it from other people as and when required.”
“So not even Franziska knew about it?” Phoenix asked. “I thought you two were pretty close when you were young.”
“Don’t be foolish,” Edgeworth rebuked him. “Think about it - when I was fourteen and coming to those kinds of conclusions, Franziska was about seven. She wouldn’t have any understanding of such matters and even if she did she would have found the idea abhorrent, imperfect. Though I suspect that...” he checked himself, falling silent.
“Suspect what?” Phoenix asked.
Edgeworth hesitated. He’d never really told anybody this theory of his before. It was hardly dinnertime conversation, after all. But it was just him and Phoenix here - sharing his private speculations was unlikely to do any harm in this quarter, so he continued,
“...that, given her attitude towards men in general, she leans towards the flip side of the coin herself.”
It took Phoenix a little while to process the meaning of this, given Edgeworth’s tendency for abstract euphemisms, but when he did his eyes widened with surprise.
“You think Franziska’s...?”
“It wouldn’t surprise me if it turned out to be the case, though I think she would have a very hard time coming to terms with it.”
“You’re telling me!” Phoenix exclaimed. “If the thought even crossed her mind I think she’d go out and whip a few women just to prove she doesn’t like them either.”
Edgeworth snorted in response to that.
“So, you said 'there was nobody around to hear about it' when you first realised,” Phoenix reasoned, “but something must’ve happened to make you start thinking you were gay - that’s gotta mean you had a crush on somebody back then, right?”
“Must you use such frivolous language?” Edgeworth said sourly. “You sound like a lovestruck teenager.”
“Ahhhh well, I hang around Maya and Pearl too much,” Phoenix brushed it off. “So that means you did, am I right? Who was it, one of your tutors?”
“You’re such a damned harpy when it comes to gossip - it’s none of your business.”
“It so was, that Psyche-Lock says it all!” Phoenix said gleefully.
Edgeworth immediately sat upright in bed, looking around.
“Where’s that blasted magatama?” he demanded. “It leaves the room, NOW.”
There was a short pause, then Phoenix started chuckling. Edgeworth immediately realised why.
“You bastard. That’s it, I’m going back to sleep, I’m not playing twenty questions anymore,” he sulked, sliding back down under the covers and turning onto his side, away from Phoenix.
Immediately he felt apologetic kisses on his back and a warm hand massaging his shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” Phoenix whispered to him. “But hey, at least I know a little more about you than I did before.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good thing,” Edgeworth murmured, eyes closed. The shoulder massage felt nice...
“Well, I don’t think it’s a bad thing either,” Phoenix said. “It’s like this scar on your shoulder - sure, I can see it, but I only found out that shoulder gets sore and needs a good massage when you told me so.”
“True,” Edgeworth conceded sleepily.
“How did you get that scar, anyway?”
“No more twenty questions, I said.”
“Aw, come on, it’s no fun having a scar if you don’t get to tell the story behind it.”
Edgeworth felt a gentle finger tracing the curved length of the white streak on his shoulder. It was so old, that scar, and he only ever saw it when he was looking in the mirror. Nobody else he’d ever slept with had asked him about it. Why did it matter so much to Phoenix to find out such things?
“It was a horse,” he said.
The finger paused.
“A horse?” Phoenix asked incredulously.
“It bit me.”
“Oww,” Phoenix winced. “But, why? Horses don’t normally bite people, do they?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Long stories are usually good ones - c’mon, spill the beans, I promise I won’t laugh if it was your fault-“
“It wasn’t my fault!” Edgeworth protested. “What do you think I did, present my shoulder for equine consumption?!”
“Well, you might’ve done!” Phoenix grinned, irrepressible.
”Fine, if you must know the full story: Franziska and I were part of a deer-hunting group back in Germany - her father encouraged it as many influentials were into the sport and it was a good way of making contacts. I’m no great horseman, so I was a whipper-in for the hounds at the time,” Edgeworth explained. “Anyway, Franziska’s not particularly kind to her mounts, and she gave the horse in question one whipping too many; it started bucking and rearing, trying to throw her off, so I went to her assistance. That was when I was bitten, but the poor creature was frightened out of its wits so it was hardly to blame for the affair.”
Phoenix whistled under his breath.
“Yeouch. Your shoulder must’ve been a mess. I dunno why you go to such lengths for her, you know... it’s not as if she ever thanks you for it.”
Still turned away from Phoenix, Edgeworth couldn’t help but break into a wry smile at this.
“I’ve never expected a ‘thankyou’ from Franziska in my life,” he said. “That’s just the von Karma way, but I suppose it’s something you would find strange, not having lived as one.”
“Uhhh... I guess,” Phoenix said slowly. “Living as a von Karma sounds like being part of a strange cult to me-“
He felt Edgeworth’s shoulder shaking under his hand, and heard quiet sniggering.
“Hey!” he protested. “What’s so funny?”
“Ah, the speculations of the uninitiated,” Edgeworth smirked. “I don’t think you’d last even a day under von Karma tutelage.”
“Probably not, but I think I’m quite happy without it, thanks.”
He traced his lover’s scar again, following the funny half-moon shape that he now recognised as teethmarks.
“That must’ve really hurt...” he said, kissing it. The skin under his lips quivered a little.
“Mmm... it did.” Edgeworth replied. “But it was a long time ago; a dim memory now. Oh, that reminds me. You’ve got a long scar on your leg, haven’t you?” he asked, turning over to face him. “I noticed it the other day.”
“Really? I’m surprised, given how frantic you were to get my trousers off.”
“Shut up - my powers of observation are impeccable, whatever the circumstances. And you got that scar from...?”
“Falling off a wall back in junior high!” Phoenix said proudly.
“I should’ve known it would be due to some sort of ineptitude on your part.” Edgeworth sighed.
“No, I was pushed! Larry wanted to get off the wall in a hurry and he knocked me down in the process.”
“Typical Butz, no consideration for others.”
“Well, the teacher spotted we were throwing eggs at the grammar school boys-“
“You revolting child.”
“Hey, that’s not fair, I wasn’t doing the throwing! I was just passing the eggs to Larry-“
“It’s always like that - you’re always the accomplice. It was your gluestick Butz smeared all over the whiteboard in 4th grade so Mrs Caxton couldn’t write on it. He couldn’t get away with half his misdeeds without your bumbling assistance.”
“You helped out once too,” Phoenix retorted.
“Once, reluctantly.”
“Liar, you were annoyed at Mr. Humphreys for giving you a detention - you masterminded the whole prank!”
“Hmph. He picked on me unfairly, I only sneezed during assembly and he destroyed my detention-free record for that. Wouldn’t you want a bit of justice?”
“I wouldn’t’ve gone quite so far as putting up photos of him snogging Miss Delaney all over the school...”
“It was merely an exposition of a truth he’d have preferred to keep secret,” Edgeworth replied airily. “It was quite simple to pull off with Butz’s knowledge of their meeting places and your mother’s photo printer handy.”
“You’re a frightening man, Miles Edgeworth.”
“Hmm? To others, perhaps, but I don’t scare you, do I?” Edgeworth reached out a hand, pushing back some of Phoenix’s locks with one finger. “I’ve made you sweat often enough in court but I don’t think I’ve ever genuinely frightened you...” he caught sight of the expression on his lover’s face and frowned, “...have I?”
“Maybe I’m just good at putting on a brave face?” Phoenix suggested.
The corner of Edgeworth’s mouth twitched upwards slightly.
“Certainly you’re good at pulling off the deadpan look when you’re making some utterly ridiculous proposition to the court,” he said mildly.
“All those acting classes I had at University came in handy for something!”
“You took acting classes?” Edgeworth blinked. “I didn’t know that.”
“Theatre was my major until second year - then I switched over to law, but I still kept up acting on the side till I had to study for my finals.”
“I see. It must have been difficult finding time to attend rehearsals as well as studying.”
“It wasn’t so bad, I managed somehow - mostly by doing stuff at the last minute,” Phoenix said with a wink. “I was really gutted I couldn’t do Avenue Q in final year though, I just had too many essays to do.”
“...Having You Queue?” Edgeworth asked, mystified.
“No, Avenue Q, you know, the musical?”
There was a moment of blank silence.
“You’ve never heard of it,” Phoenix grinned.
“Stop looking smug,” Edgeworth humphed. “So my theatre experience has been mostly classic plays and not much in the way of lay theatre-“
“It wouldn’t be your thing anyway, the songs are rather-”
“How do you know it’s not my thing?” Edgeworth said indignantly. “You seem to be under the impression that I dislike anything that involves hilarity-”
“Says the man who feels silly cheering when he’s been acquitted of murder!”
“I tried...” Edgeworth looked embarrassed. “It just... felt foolish, that’s all. So what’s this, er, Avenue Q?”
“It’s got puppets in it and stuff. It parodies a lot of popular culture - the songs are hysterical,” Phoenix explained, then in a low voice he began to sing, “If you were gay... that’d be okay... I mean 'cause hey, I like you aaa-ny-way-“ he broke off laughing at the incredulous expression on his partner’s face.
“You sing that... on stage?” Edgeworth asked, disbelieving.
“Of course!” Phoenix declared. “The entire thing is full of innuendo - that’s what makes it so funny.”
“How... lewd,” Edgeworth said with distaste. “Clearly your university’s drama club was too far down in the gutter to bring themselves up to a class of play like Othello.”
“Hey, we put that on too! I was-“ Phoenix broke off, casting his eyes down briefly.
“You were who?”
Phoenix refused to answer. Edgeworth looked at him shrewdly, reaching a hand up to touch the side of his face. It was flushed, hot with embarrassment. This time it was Edgeworth’s turn to look smug.
“You had to play a female part, didn’t you?” he said triumphantly. “Bianca, Cassio’s strumpet, that’s the only character no self-respecting girl would audition for.”
“You’re too clever for your own good,” Phoenix muttered. “Yeah, you’re right - there were a lot of good actors at Ivy U, they all wanted the male parts. I knew I didn’t have a hope in hell of getting Cassio, which was what I auditioned for, but then they offered me Bianca’s part because nobody else wanted it, and Othello’s one of my favourite plays...”
“You wanted to be in it that badly, then?”
Phoenix nodded, stifling a yawn.
“I killed my throat doing the falsetto for that, but I pulled it off! It was good fun, but it’s not something I tell people about normally - I’d get ribbed for it otherwise.”
“Maya would never let you hear the end of it,” Edgeworth agreed. “Why tell me, of all people, then? I’m hardly likely to insult you any less than Maya would - you should know better than to give me ammunition,” he said, an evil gleam in his eye.
“Hmm?” Phoenix murmured. “Ah, well, there’s plenty’f ammunition you’ve given me t’night too.”
“Pah, nothing more than sticks and stones. On a more serious note, though,” Edgeworth said, turning onto his back and resting his arms behind his head, “this little conversation has been quite pleasant. I apologise for being so taciturn when it comes to little details like those you were asking me about tonight. I suppose I withhold such things out of habit - a careless word dropped in the wrong place can cause a lot of trouble. To be honest, nobody else I’ve ever been with has shown such curiosity about me and my personal life... it came as a surprise, but then you’ve turned out to be as unpredictable a partner as you are a courtroom rival.
“Yet I like this, this spontaneity - it encourages me to become less set in my ways. It also made me realise that despite you being a very open man, I don’t really know that much about you. I suppose that will come with time, and you’re probably far more willing to put up with twenty questions than I am, I’m guessing?”
...
“...Phoenix?”
No reply - only the sound of quiet, regular breathing. Edgeworth looked over at his partner, who was curled up under the comforter, away in Cuckooland with a peaceful smile on his face.
“Damn,” Edgeworth sighed, staring up at the ceiling. “Now I'm the one who’s wide awake and feeling like talking...”
-End