Disclaimer: I own nothing. I am working on Hearts, really, this just... somehow managed to write itself in a separate file while I was working on the ending to Hearts. Ye-es. That's exactly what happened. I guess this could be considered the story equivalent of a sketch, similar to the sketches currently overtaking my Vet Sci III notes.

I'm not happy with this title, but I'm having trouble coming up with one I like.

One More Wish

He liked living by himself, he really did. He liked drinking straight from the carton and wandering around half-dressed and eating ice cream right out of the box… and, okay, maybe he didn't like struggling to keep his rent and bills paid, or trying to make do with whatever was left in the cupboards when he hadn't been able to afford groceries in a month or a half or…

Phoenix sighed, staring down at his dinner- semi-identifiable pasta in watery sauce poured over stale bread with barbecue sauce. If he was mixingthose kinds of ingredients he knew he hadn't been shopping in far too long. He hadn't even used real milk for the pasta, he'd done what he'd sworn he wouldn't and opened the box of instant powdered milk Mia had insisted he buy.

Living alone had long since lost its novelty.

He glanced away, not really wanting to finish his 'dinner' but knowing damn well he didn't have any food to waste at the moment. Besides, he'd had 'don't waste food' drilled into him at a young age and had never quite shaken the lecture about starving children in Zimbabwe. His eyes lit on his tree- a pre-lit three foot tall thing, but hell, he'd wanted something to make the place feel more like Christmas and this was the best he could afford. To be honest… he couldn't afford it, either. Maya had insisted he buy something to 'brighten up the place,' though, and as he fully expected her to show up here constantly around Christmas he'd succumbed.

The little tree looked… sad. Not in the way of Charlie Brown Christmas specials- not that he'd be watching those this year, cable was not a possibility at the moment- but just in that… well. It was a pre-lit Christmas tree, for God's sake. He'd always found that sad. Moreover, it was graced with a scant number of ornaments- one simple blue ornament from Mia, one white dove ornament from Maya, one vaguely puppy-shaped ornament from Gumshoe and… a photo ornament from Larry.

Finally abandoning his questionable dinner altogether, Phoenix stood up and moved to the tree to lift the ornament and inspect it again. It wasn't like that particular meal would be any worse cold, anyway.

The picture was torn at the edges and carefully, meticulously Scotch-taped together. It was faded and worn and one corner was missing a chunk and another corner had a mysterious stain on it, but he still treasured it. It was a picture of the three of them- Miles, Phoenix, and Larry- the summer between the class trial and the Christmas where their group had split- for forever, it had seemed at the time. They'd gotten copies made, and he knew Larry had one and had made his into an ornament as well, and he'd mailed one to Edgeworth but he'd never known if it had been received.

Phoenix's dad had taken the photo; it was of all three boys sitting around a campfire and listening, entranced, to the stories Mr. Edgeworth had been telling them. Phoenix remembered that trip well and grinned to himself a little as he recalled how, even then, he'd been sort of shocked that Miles had consented to a camping trip. A camping trip, of all things. Phoenix's dad had made the offer though, happy to see Phoenix with friends, and Miles' father had agreed for much the same reason. Larry was leaning forward, one hand braced against Phoenix's shoulder and the other braced against Miles', mouth hanging open as he listened to Mr. Edgeworth's tale. He'd been telling the Monkey's Paw legend if Phoenix remembered correctly.

Phoenix was also leaning forward, although not as much as Larry. Larry was actually in a precarious enough position that it was only his hold on his friends keeping him upright and preventing him pitching face-first into the fire. Phoenix at least had one hand planted firmly on the bench the three of them were squeezed onto. He looked no less entranced than Larry, though.

And Miles… he was trying to lean away from Larry and simultaneously look as though he weren't doing so. Larry's grip on his shirt was tight and even now Phoenix could see Miles worrying about wrinkles. Firelight lit them all up bizarrely from strange angles, cast odd double- and triple- shadows, gave the whole image a surreal feeling. It was by no means professional photography but Phoenix loved it all the more for that. There was much more life in it for having been taken the way it was.

Phoenix stared until his vision blurred, recalling that summer weekend- how they'd stayed up until the early hours of the morning, such a novelty at that age. How Mr. Edgeworth and his own father had eventually gently insisted the three of them unroll their sleeping bags in the tent the two of them had taught the boys to pitch earlier, how the three had then stayed up even longer talking softly and in Phoenix's case using the flashlight to make shadow puppets on the tent walls and in Larry's case hitting Phoenix with a pillow and in Miles' case staring at the tent ceiling with furrowed brows and no doubt carefully considering every aspect of the stories his father had told. He remembered how Miles had admitted, come the morning light that saw Larry snoring loudly draped against Phoenix's legs and Phoenix sitting up against the tent wall and gazing drowsily at Miles as he asked what he'd been considering all night, that he'd been trying to come up with something to wish for on the Monkey's Paw that couldn't be twisted. They'd made a game of it. Phoenix would come up with a wish and Miles would counter it with a twist.

Phoenix hadn't been able to come up with an incorruptible wish. He wondered if Edgeworth ever had.

He picked up his phone.

GuardianSaiyoko: I like kid!trio stuff, which might be clear to anyone who's read my Kingdom Hearts fics. I also really, really like the Monkey's Paw legend and by extension the Corrupt-A-Wish game and 'three wishes' jokes. I also am dearly in love with camping trips since that's what almost all our vacations were when I was little- because that's what you do when you haven't got money, kids- so I wanted to combine all these things. Constructive criticism very much appreciated, since this was a quickwrite story for me and my first foray into the Phoenix Wright fandom. I have only played the first game. Please do not spoil the rest for me.