So see this post? post/ 98179341400/ send-me-a-ship-and-a-number-and-ill-write-a-short-fic (Also, that's my friend's writing tumblr and she's great and you should check her out.) Well, I like most of the AUs and I really wanted to write something for Ace Attorney again, so I figured until I get actual inspiration, I'd just do this. I'm not going to do all of the AUs, because certain ones make me uncomfortable, but I'll do most of them! First one is Soulmate AU.

Phoenix had always thought the way people found soulmates was a little weird. He couldn't deny the validity of it-no, those who found their soulmates were always really happy. And he didn't try to deny it or date other people either. He knew he'd find his soulmate eventually. Most likely. Alright, so he had dated Dahlia, but that was different. She'd been so enchanting, and he'd put off comparing signs because he was worried their signs wouldn't match. (They didn't, and he'd probably known that from the beginning.) But, really, Phoenix didn't particularly care to go around and flash the little mark on his arm for everyone to see. And he didn't like the way some people leered, trying hopelessly to see everyone's sign.

He kind of just wanted to find his soulmate and get it over with. Of course, at twenty-eight, that didn't seem likely to happen any time soon.

"Aw, come on, Nick, you'll find that person soon enough!" said Maya when he mentioned his concerns to her. She had her head in his lap and was sprawled across the couch. She laid her DS on her stomach. "I mean, I haven't found mine yet!"

"Maya, you're twenty-one. You have time," he replied, flipping the page in his book absently.

Maya gave him a look. "And so do you!" she declared. "What does your sign look like anyway?" She reached up and tugged his arm so that she held it above her head, rolling up the sleeve in a way that was sure to wrinkle it. Phoenix wondered what her intention was. He'd known from their first meeting that their signs didn't match. They'd already had that awkward discussion.

He asked her.

Maya didn't really answer him. She said, "This... looks familiar. I've seen this somewhere. I'm sure of it."

"I'm glad you maybe know my soulmate," said Phoenix, shifting positions on the couch. Maya whined at being forced to move as well.

"You should be glad!" she said. "If I remember who it is, you can finally know!"

"If you remember," he emphasized.

Maya huffed. "Do you really think so little of my memory?"

"Yes," he said. Maya proceeded to lecture him about the merits of her memory for about an hour. Long enough to forget that she maybe knew his soulmate, anyway.


He actually found his soulmate a month and a half later. Well, no. He'd met his soulmate in grade school. But they'd never compared signs. Until a month and a half after Phoenix and Maya's conversation.

Phoenix would later remember this discovery with slight embarrassment. After all, it only happened because-

"Oh, fuck!"

-he spilled his coffee on his arm. In Miles Edgeworth's office. Phoenix was just lucky he hadn't spilled it on any papers because then he would be dead. He just hoped his soulmate would regret killing him after he found out. ("I wouldn't, Wright. Those who stain my papers must deal with the consequences.")

To Edgeworth's credit, he didn't immediately bark out some sort of biting comment. He grabbed a handkerchief, handed it to Phoenix, and then dragged him over to the adjacent restroom to run cold water on his arm. Only after Phoenix's burn was being cared for did he say, "I would have thought you would have surpassed the age of spilling."

"Oh, shut up," said Phoenix without any sort of malice. "I'm not quite awake. That coffee was supposed to help."

"Burning your arm aids you to wake up in the morning?" Edgeworth asked, with a slight quirk of his lips.

Phoenix gave him a look. He pulled his arm out from under the faucet and rolled up his sleeve. He turned his wrist to Edgeworth and asked, "Does it look bad?" Phoenix was initially staring at the red skin himself, until he realized that Edgeworth had been very quiet. Then he looked over.

Edgeworth was pale.

Phoenix panicked. "Is it bad? Do I need to go to the hospital? I don't think it hurts that much, but what if it's one of those things where it doesn't hurt when it's supposed to?"

"Wright, your arm is fine. It's only a slight burn," said Edgeworth, his voice a little shaky.

"Then what's wrong?"

As those words came from Phoenix's mouth, Edgeworth rolled up his own sleeve and set his wrist next to Phoenix's.

The same.

"Oh," said Phoenix.

Edgeworth looked up at him.

"Oh," he said again. He looked back down at the signs. They definitely matched. That wasn't... expected. "I'm not really sure what to do with this."

Immediately, Edgeworth recoiled and replaced his sleeve. "I apologize for your lack of satisfaction. I in no way meant to disappoint you," he said with that weird formal tone he took sometimes.

"That's not what I meant," said Phoenix, knowing he'd have to act fast before Edgeworth shut down on him. "I just... didn't know."

Edgeworth didn't reply.

"Um, the sign looks better on your arm."

Edgeworth almost cracked a smile. "Is that an attempt to flirt?"

"Uh, no." Phoenix blinked. "Unless that's okay now. I mean, we are kind of sort of soulmates."

That was the first time in a long time Phoenix heard Edgeworth laugh. And it was pretty nice. He certainly didn't have any complaints.