When Edgeworth cries, the world ends.
Phoenix always had his suspicions that the day his beloved cried in front of him was the day the Earth exploded. Because of Edgeworth's apathetic nature, Phoenix had never seen him cry, even when they were small children, Miles did not cry in front of him. In fact, Edgeworth never seemed to show anything but anger and annoyance when they were out. In the sweet, comforting confines of their home, however, he smiled and laughed like every other man would.
But the day Phoenix sees Edgeworth cry is the day the sun goes cold.
It's just after Edgeworth's trial in which his innocence was proved in the murder of Robert Hammond. Of course, seeing the man he believed to have killed his father so many years ago and finally figuring out the real murderer had stirred some very unwanted feelings, and he did not want to deal with them.
Miles sits down on his bed and squares his jaw.
It starts like this: shoulders shuddering after each inhale, hands clasped tight to stop their trembling, and the horror of knowing what these things will inevitably lead to.
"Edgeworth?" Phoenix peeks his head into their bedroom. He has a cup of tea in his hand. "Hey - are you feeling okay?"
Edgeworth looks at him with his lips parted and his eyebrows drawn together. Phoenix draws in an anticipatory breath and lets it out when the apocalypse begins.
Phoenix sets the cup down with a sigh and walks over to the bed. He sits down next to Edgeworth, takes his right hand in Phoenix's left, and rests his head on a maroon-clad shoulder, exhaling softly.
Edgeworth's shoulders tremble and the sun implodes. His breath catches and the ruins of cities are left in its wake. He grits his teeth and a storm rips the roof right off his house. He sobs, tears dripping on the dark carpet of their bedroom and a drought's placed upon the world as if water no longer existed.
"Oh, Miles," Phoenix breathes, squeezing his hand lovingly. "I'm so sorry for what's happened to you. My poor, sweet Miles…"
The world is ending in his very own bedroom and Phoenix can't stop it, can't stop the tears that brim in his own eyes in sympathy for his love, and he presses a soft kiss to Edgeworth's shoulder. The world is ending, but it's okay. Okay, because once this smooths over, he'll be able to breathe again.
"I-I...apologize, W-Wright, I…"
But it's too much, too overwhelming, so he ceases to talk and instead focuses on clenching his fists too tight to quell their trembling, and he knows he's probably hurting Phoenix's own hand, but he can't stop, can't…just can't.
"Don't apologize to me, Miles, apologize to yourself," Phoenix says, "for not feeling what you're feeling now a long time ago."
Edgeworth tenses.
"T-That doesn't m-make s-sense.."
But it probably does. To Wright, at least.
Finally, finally, the rapture starts to come to an end, and all that's left his the hiccups of thunder and lightning raining down upon the earth. Wright caresses Edgeworth neck, slowly guiding him to his lips. Their kiss is slow and consoling, and Edgeworth feels as if he'll fall over from the weight of his past finally being lifted away.
"I won't lose you," Phoenix murmurs against Edgeworth' lips. He tastes of the salt from his tears, and the festering sorrow along with it. "Not to Manfred, not to anyone or anything. Don't stop living, Miles, or he's already won."
Edgeworth looks into Phoenix's eyes, blue and so painfully sincere. He's looking at the person he needed when he was young and full of pent-up rage and emotions he didn't know the name of. This is he - the person Miles had wished for desperately every night he spent in Germany.
"I…" A moment. "I love you, Phoenix."
"I know."
AN: hello it's hannah here came up with this thing as i finished Miles Edgeworth: Investigations or something...