I originally wrote this little ficlet for the Phoenix Wright Kink Meme (just as I have everything else I've posted), and I decided to put it up here after cleaning it up and adding a few things.
"Achoo!" Phoenix sneezed once again, and rolled over miserably in bed. There was no more denying it: he was sick. It wasn't uncommon for him to get sick around this time of year, but for some reason, this year decided to pack an extra punch.
He suspected he had the flu or something. He hated needles, so vaccinations were on a "need" basis to him. And since nobody ever really died from the flu anymore, a flu vaccine wasn't on that "need" list for him.
Left alone with nothing but his thoughts, his fevered mind thought back to another time he had been sick, all those years ago in college...
He had switched cold medicine brands after that. Not that he had expected it to be poisoned, but because simply looking at a bottle of Coldkiller X brought back unpleasant memories of that trial. To think that he was almost sentenced to death over something he didn't do...
Phoenix's body gave an involuntary shudder. His somewhat fever-fried mind slipped into a feverish sleep, wondering how Dahlia would react if she saw him now, lying in bed sneezing his guts out.
Suddenly, he found his answer. Rather than his comfortable bed, he found himself standing in front of Dahlia. She looked at him with pure hatred. Part of him knew this was a dream, but the part of his brain overrun by fever was too busy being afraid to care.
"Achoo!" he sneezed.
And Dahlia would sneer. "Shut up, Phoenix," she spat angrily (for the Dahlia he knew was truly there was so different from the sweet girl he had dated in college. But of course she was different. He hadn't really dated Dahlia back then, after all...).
Phoenix was upset by this comment. "I'm sorry! I caught another cold!" he said, sniffling. Real Phoenix distantly wondered when he'd regressed back to his college self, but that rational part of his brain was quickly hijacked by the fever once again.
Dahlia rolled her eyes at this. "Stupid Feenie!" she spat the nickname out like it was poison (perhaps, the same poison she had slipped into his cold medicine?). "Why do you persist in being so pathetic? Your girlfriend must be ashamed of you," she said with a nasty look in her eyes.
Would his girlfriend be ashamed of him? He thought so. Maya never got sick; probably a benefit of standing under waterfalls all the time. She didn't need a sickly thing like him to bog her down. The rational part of his brain screamed at him that this was the fever talking, but dream Dahlia (she looked so real, sounded so real...) started laughing, so nastily, so... so cruel...
"You hurt my feelings!" he wailed at her, only to be stopped by a barrage of sneezes.
Phoenix suddenly snapped awake at the feeling of a cool cloth on his head. He lifted up his head, and when his vision cleared, he saw a worried looking Maya dabbing at his forehead.
Upon seeing him awake, she smiled. "Heya, Nick," she said gently, kissing him on the forehead.
"Hey Maya," he said weakly, reaching up to rub his eyes. He wiped away... tears? Had he been crying in his sleep?
Maya stroked his hair softly. "You were mumbling in your sleep," she murmured gently to him, a concerned look on her face.
"Was I?" he asked. Maya nodded. He wanted to go back to sleep, but... something was bothering him. "You're not... you're not ashamed of the fact I get sick a lot, are you?"
Maya smiled warmly. "Of course not, Nick. Why would I be?"
At this, Phoenix frowned. "You're always so healthy, and..." Phoenix trailed off, and Maya kissed him on the forehead again.
"That means I'll be able to be here for you, silly. Get some sleep. I love you." she said, pulling the covers back over him.
"Love you too," was all he could muster before he fell into another, more peaceful, sleep.
You know, I didn't even like this pairing until I wrote this. Now I love it. It's amazing what filling prompts can do for your pairing preferences.