Notes – Set at some unspecified time after AAI and before AJ, working on the presumption that the basketball hoop stayed in the prosecutors' office for a while and that Klavier and Edgeworth worked in the same building for some time. Contains spoilers for the first case on AAI, but that's all.
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There was a basketball hoop sitting in the corridor outside of one of the offices.
It looked considerably out of place when you took into account that these were high prosecutors' offices, designed to look fancy with plush carpets and grander than life furniture. A basketball hoop felt wrong.
Having said that every work place had to have its unusual quirks, something to talk about around the water cooler with new employees who didn't understand why it was there.
And as is the case with most of these situations the older employees didn't know why it was there either. There had been a few rumours and legends spring up about it, but one thing that everyone seemed to agree on was that it had something to do with Edgeworth and some guy who used to work here but doesn't anymore. Apparently he wore a pink shirt and called people "Jim". His name was… well, people seemed to think it was something along the lines of Portsman, but whatever it was he'd been a funny guy who didn't fit in with the sensible people who worked here.
The part about sensible people Klavier added in for his own amusement. Sometimes it was easy to doubt that there were any sensible people among the prosecutors.
But regardless, the basketball hoop was there, having been brought in by a previous prosecutor and the reason it stayed there was because no one could be bothered to drag it outside. Some people claimed that Edgeworth had asked Gumshoe to get rid of it, but Klavier doubted that, because if he had done then Gumshoe would have done everything in his power to get rid of it just to keep Edgeworth happy.
And since this mysterious hoop was down to 'Edgeworth's business' everyone just left it alone on account of not wanting to get in his way. He seemed to be a man people feared upsetting.
So the basketball hoop remained there, day in, day out. When you pass it everyday on the way to your office you sort of stop seeing it after a while. It takes someone pointing it out to remind you how odd it was.
In this case it had been Detective Ema Skye, delivering some documents to Klavier. And once she was absolutely certain that, no, Edgeworth wasn't around and, yes, it will be unlikely that he's going to show up within the next few minutes she regarded Klavier with the same uninterested distaste that she always did.
"What is that doing here anyway?" she asked, glancing out the door as she past the papers to him.
He had to think what she was referring to for a moment before answering, "Oh, the basketball hoop? No idea. It's been there for a while, think it belonged to someone Herr Edgeworth knew."
She shook her head in disbelief.
"No, that can't be right. Edgeworth's a real prosecutor who does his job with class. If anything I'd expect it to belong to someone like you, who goofs off all the time," she replied scornfully.
He did a look of mock-hurt at her words before answering, "Mein spare time is best spent creating beautiful music, not shooting hoops. Perhaps one of Edgeworth's friends enjoys 'goofing off'."
"Edgeworth doesn't hang around with people who-"
Then an image of Gumshoe's smiling mug appeared in her mind.
"Well maybe just… but I can't see him playing basketball," she mumbled dejectedly.
"Regardless I do not know why it is there," Klavier said, eyes glancing over the documents he'd been handed that detailed an upcoming case; "Now is there anything else or have you just come here to spend time with me, fraulein?"
If looks could kill then Klavier would be shaking hands with the Grim Reaper right now.
"No, unlike some people I don't have time to waste. Now excuse me."
She marched out of the door. Her reactions always amused him somewhat. Sometimes he liked flirting with people just to see them freak out. But she had put his mind onto the basketball hoop. Even as he read through the papers there was a little nagging voice in the back of his head wondering why, if no one moved it, there was no reason for people not to make use of it at least.
What harm could come of playing basketball in the corridor of a prosecutors' office?
Fine, perhaps that wasn't the most acceptable thing to do but if you just happened to be walking past it and had a basketball with you then surely people would forgive you.
He glanced around his office. There were a lot of unusual things cluttered around but, alas, no basketball.
Maybe… he should bring one in.
It was amazing what you could talk yourself into doing if you let the voices run away with themselves for too long.
The day after that he walked up to the corridor with a newly acquired basketball under one arm. He tried to look natural with it, but in spite of himself he couldn't help feeling a bit nervous. What if someone asked why he had it with him? It's not as if carrying a basketball was a crime, but people would soon be able to put two and two together.
So there he stood in front of the hoop, looking purposefully up at it with the basketball in hand.
Now he was here one shot couldn't hurt. It would be a waste if he didn't.
Reaching up he tossed the ball and watched as it skimmed the ring and passed through the hoop before bouncing quietly on the carpet and rolling off to the opposite wall.
Contrary to what his nerves had led him to believe this did not result in a horde of angry prosecutors all bursting out from their offices and demanding to know what was going on.
In fact he was almost sure the offices were all empty today.
With the success of the first shot he picked the ball back up and tried again. This time it didn't get through but that didn't matter, Klavier was having fun.
His odd training session of shooting hoops continued until he had long forgotten to keep track of time and carried on until heavy footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs behind him.
"What's going on here, pal?"
Klavier froze as the basketball rolled pathetically across the floor and looked at the confused face of Detective Gumshoe.
"Ah, detective. I was just… eh, playing basketball," he muttered lamely.
Gumshoe didn't have much experience with the young prosecutor. All he really knew about him was that Edgeworth disapproved of his flashy ways, and whatever Edgeworth felt about someone Gumshoe usually agreed with him.
Raising an eyebrow, he replied, "That ain't a game that people play in a hallway, pal."
"But the hoop has been here for such a long time," Klavier argued, "Haven't you thought about it before?"
Gumshoe had of course thought about it, but Edgeworth wouldn't like that and not doing things that would offend Edgeworth was pretty high up Gumshoe's list of priorities.
He felt the boy's eager gaze on him, and his eyes fell to the basketball at his feet.
"Well one thing does get me about all this," he said, leaning down to pick up the ball, "And that's 'you can't play basketball with one person', pal."
Klavier grinned, he'd found someone to have a game with.
The two carried on until long into the afternoon. Portsman's previous Jims would have been quite surprised at the whole affair, as unlike when Portsman made them hold the balls as he practised himself this was an actual game. Albeit one where each team consisted of a single player.
"Have you… played this before?" Klavier gasped, unable to keep up with Gumshoe after a while. He was surprisingly quick considering his size.
"Um, well I've had a bit of practise here and there but-"
He was cut off at the sight of a prosecutor in a red suit who was standing watching them with his arms folded. He did not look amused.
"What do you think you are doing, detective?" Edgeworth asked.
"Mr. Edgeworth, sir! I was just… um, well this guy was here and…" stammered Gumshoe.
"There isn't a problem here," said Klavier, dismissing his surprise at being caught for a second time with his usual cool demeanour, "You look at us as if we are children who have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar. But this hoop is here to be used, ja?"
"No it most certainly is not," Edgeworth answered, "It is here because some foolish man put it outside his office and no one has had the foresight to remove it. Must I be the one to arrange everything around here? Come on detective, we will get rid of this now that I know it is going to be misused. And you can consider this performance being kept in mind when I next review your pay check as well."
He turned and headed off downstair.
Before Gumshoe made to go after him, Klavier called, "Sorry about your pay. I didn't mean to get you in any trouble."
Looking as if that was nothing, Gumshoe answered, "Don't worry about it, pal, Mr. Edgeworth docks my pay all the time. If it wasn't for this then it would have been for something else. Thanks for the game."
With that he was gone. And the next day the basketball hoop was gone as well.
The thing about odd furniture in workplaces was that although people might forget that it's there after a while, when it goes away they do notice it.
"What happened to that basketball hoop that used to be outside of Edgeworth's office?" one of the men asked.
"It was taken away," Klavier answered, "Because it was being misused."
"Misused? What were people misusing it for?"
"To play basketball with."
Klavier walked off, grinning more than he should at how baffled this statement left the man. Perhaps that would become an office legend as well.