A/N: Um . . . yeah. Long time, no see. My bad. Life, you know.
So...enjoy some JustWright!
Just Meeting the Ex, Wright
Apollo tried to surreptitiously check himself in the bathroom mirror again, making sure he looked presentable. Okay, he hadn't dated in . . . well, ever—and did his relationship with Phoenix count as 'dating?' After all, they didn't go out on 'dates,' per se, they just worked together, hung out, had . . . uh, relations.
'Jeez, Apollo, what the hell's wrong with you? You're having sex with him, you freaking idiot!' his mind chided.
"Apollo? Your face is all red. Something wrong?" Phoenix's voice came from just behind him.
Mortified at being caught blushing like a friggin' girl, Apollo refused to turn around. "I'm fine, Nick," he said, a touch testily. Out of reflex, he checked his sleeve lengths again, trying to make sure they were even.
There was a moment of silence before the bathroom door closed behind him. Apollo let out a sigh of relief until he heard the snick of the lock. He turned quickly, only to be gently pressed to the wall, Phoenix giving him that look. "What's wrong, Apollo?"
Apollo blushed again. "I'm nervous. I mean . . . well, yeah. It's Edgeworth. The Edgeworth."
A smirk played around the corners or Phoenix's mouth. "So it's a 'meeting-the-ex' kind of nervous?"
"I can't help it, Nick. It's Miles freaking Edgeworth. Have you looked at the guy, lately—okay, that was stupid, of course you have. It's just—the guy is like perfection personified, and I'm feeling especially awkward and . . . kinda young in comparison.
"You met him before, you know. Remember? In the courthouse? You weren't spazzing out then."
"I was more focused on you. Not to mention still riding the high from winning the case. There's not a lot to distract me this time. And I get the feeling he'll be paying more attention to me, as well." Just the thought of it was making him sweat a little harder.
A moment later, he found himself being pulled into a hug, which he gladly returned, snuggling into the warmth of Phoenix's hoodie . . . wait, what?
"Phoenix!" Apollo pulled back and stared at the hoodie. "Why are you wearing-" His bracelet tightened suddenly, and he looked up to Perceive just the faintest hint of pink on Phoenix's face. "You're nervous, too? Why?"
Nick laughed outright. "Apollo, he's my ex! I know you've never had one, but trust me, when someone up and leaves you, it's a little scary to have them come back. It's like . . . imagine meeting up with someone who picked on you growing up. You'd want to be able to show them now that you overcame everything and ended up better than they ever thought. I mean, he left because . . . because I wasn't worth his time without my attorney's badge . . ." His eyes took on an edge of long-remembered pain, and Apollo raised up so he could kiss him. It seemed to snap Nick back to the present, and he smiled weakly.
"He's an idiot," Apollo said firmly.
"I'd like to think so."
"On the plus side, that also means he's not perfect, either, right?"
"Right."
A knock on the door interrupted them. "Daddy!" Trucy's voice was muffled, but they could still hear the anxiety. "Mr. Edgeworth just pulled up!"
"Jeez, at least we're all scared together, huh?" Apollo muttered under his breath. With a sigh, he hit the lock on the door and pushed Phoenix out of the bathroom ahead of him. He could hear the harsh jingle of the bells on the door as it opened, and steeled himself as he moved out from behind his lover.
To Apollo's surprise, Miles wasn't alone, and his companion stopped him in his tracks with her beauty.
She was so gorgeous, and so graceful, a blonde with kind, chocolate brown eyes. At Miles' quiet nod, she stepped daintily forward and offered to shake. Utterly charmed, Apollo returned the gesture, then couldn't resist running his hands over the golden hair on her head. She simply smiled in response.
"Phoenix," he said, deadpan, "I'm leaving you."
Phoenix stared down at Apollo, who was currently kneeling on the floor, stroking Miles' show-bred golden retriever in a reverent manner. He'd known Apollo considered himself a dog person, but he'd never guessed that they turned him into a calf-eyed, moon-struck, twitterpated idiot! "Uh, hi Miles. Pess . . . looks well."
Miles, for his part, wasn't even bothering to hide his smirk, "Hello, Phoenix. I guess I should say the same for Mr. Justice. I take it I'll be escorting them both home, then?"
He glared at his ex-lover, and gave a gentle nudge to Apollo with his shoe, "Apollo!" he hissed.
Apollo just looked up at him with a dreamy expression on his face, and Nick felt his face heating up, because he'd caught the younger man gazing at him with a similar look occasionally. He felt a surge of jealousy that he apparently wasn't the only cause of it. "Apollo, do you think you could get off the floor and talk with the humans for a sec?"
Apollo just smiled beatifically at Miles, "She's beautiful."
This time, there was a definite hint of laughter in Edgeworth's voice, "I'm glad you approve. However, you're not coming home with us."
The defense lawyer's eyes narrowed, "Hm. I forgot about you. I guess you're a package deal." He glanced over Miles, then shrugged with an air of resignation. "I suppose I can deal with that. Can you cook?"
Phoenix nearly choked on his own indignation at that. "APOLLO!" He glared at Miles, who was actually full-on laughing now. It almost felt like they'd had a complete role-reversal, where suddenly he was the easily offended one, and Edgeworth was the laid-back guy with the sense of humor.
That seemed to knock Apollo out of his dog-induced stupor, and he promptly turned bright red and stood. His poor hair couldn't seem to decide whether it wanted to fly back in alarm or slump in embarrassment. For a moment, Nick imagined it detaching altogether, Payne-style. "Uh . . . um, sorry! I'm fine! I'm a . . . I just . . . really like . . . dogs . . ." His shoulders were hunched, as though he were desperately wishing the ground would swallow him up.
Miles was, at heart, a kind soul, and took pity on the young man. "Well, I'm sure she appreciates the attention. I put in long hours, and I imagine she gets lonely with just me. Now, how about we sit down and . . . er, Phoenix? Do you . . .?"
Nick snapped to attention, "Oh! Right! I was going to put the water on for tea! Hey Truce, have you seen that old kettle around here?"
The teenager swept into the room, and—without a moment's hesitation, pulled out her panties. Before Edgeworth could do more than drop his jaw, she'd flipped them around and pulled out a steaming kettle for her daddy. "Few seconds back on the burner will have that boiling again, but I think it's hot enough!"
He just calmly took it from her like this happened every day. Which . . . well. It kind of did. "Got any teabags on you? I know we bought some."
"Yup!" Her scarf was removed, and shoved into a fist, which opened to reveal four of them. "We'll have to use coffee mugs, though. I broke the last of the teacups while I was trying to learn how to juggle. Is that okay?" She looked anxiously at Miles.
"It's . . . fine," Edgeworth said, looking slightly overwhelmed.
It was Phoenix's turn to chuckle. He gestured to Trucy, who was now conjuring coffee cups, and Apollo, who'd gotten side-tracked again by Pess. "Well, Miles? Meet the family!"
Maybe this could turn out fine after all.
Hope everyone enjoyed. I've appreciated every review I've gotten; they all encourage me to work on these in my spare time. Anyone else hoping the recently announced 5th Ace Attorney game has Apollo in it? ME TOO!
