I've been trying to write this for ages and now I've finally managed to get it finished. Regrettably, I don't own anything to do with the rights to Ace Attorney. Enjoy!
Edgeworth instantly sensed something was wrong as soon as he opened the door. He froze for a moment, listening to the silence. He had just made it back from the airport and he hadn't been to his office in weeks, yet something felt off. He stretched a hand along the wall and flicked on the light. His eyes adjusted to the brightness and they instantly widened at the sight in front of him. Books and papers were spread across the floor, case folders had fallen from their shelves, his chess table had been knocked over, his desk was in ruins, and one of his windows appeared to have been smashed. His eyes scanned over to the other side of the room and everything in Edgeworth's world stopped. There was someone lying motionless across his couch. His head was tilted back and his hands lay limply across a red stain on his shirt. It was Phoenix. Edgeworth was frozen as he watched a drop of the red liquid which looked and smelt increasingly like blood seep down the side of his friend's hand and drip onto the floor. The gentle sound of the blood colliding with the wooden panels was just enough to kick start Edgeworth's muscles again. He dropped all the bags and files he had been holding and sprinted over to Phoenix's side.
"Wright! Wright, wake up. Damn it, come on" Edgeworth grazed his fingers down his friend's neck and almost collapsed in relief when he found a pulse. Quickly, he fumbled with his phone until he managed to dial for an ambulance.
"Hello?" the voice on the end of the phone radiated a sense of practised calm.
"I think my friend has been stabbed. It's just above the hip but I don't think the wound is deep enough for it to have reached any internal organs. He's currently lying unconscious on my couch in my office. He's still breathing but I have no idea how long he's been here. I'm at the Prosecutor's building, my office is number 1202" Edgeworth spoke so quickly that he was surprised all his words had come out in the correct order.
"Okay, an ambulance will be there as soon as they can"
"Thank you," Edgeworth said before hanging up, carelessly throwing his phone to the side and turning his focus back to his friend.
"Wright! Come on Wright, wake up. You've got to wake up. The ambulance will be here soon but I can't lose you now. I don't know what I'd do if..." Edgeworth trailed off as his chest constricted at the thought of losing the man in front of him. He had always known that he cared about him but never before had Edgeworth fully realised just how much his friend mattered to him. Tears began stinging his eyes but he immediately blinked them back.
"Wright, please! All you have to do is wake up. Come on, I know you can do it. You managed to survive falling forty feet off a burning bridge, you are not giving up on me now! Just open your eyes"
Suddenly a small gasp came from Phoenix's lips as his eyes shot open and Edgeworth was sure he had never been so happy to hear someone breathe.
"Phoenix" Edgeworth whispered in pure relief and slumped forward against the edge of the couch.
"What happened?" Phoenix tried to sit up but gasped in pain at his wound. Edgeworth instantly wrapped an arm around his shoulders and helped him sit up slightly. Quickly realising that his friend would have no way to keep himself upright, Edgeworth did the only thing he could think of at the time. He slipped himself into the gap between Phoenix and the end of the couch before lowering his friend's body down to lean against his chest. Much to his surprise, Phoenix didn't question it. He simply slumped himself back against him.
"Try to slow your breathing," Edgeworth said in an oddly calm voice and Phoenix instantly obeyed. He focused on the other man's breathing and eventually they began to breathe in time with each other. Edgeworth wrapped his arms around Phoenix's waist and gently pushed down on his wound to help stop the bleeding. Phoenix groaned in pain and immediately gripped onto the closest thing to his left hand which happened to be Edgeworth's arm.
"It's okay, I'm just trying to stop the bleeding" Edgeworth whispered gently. Slowly, one of his hands slipped down and clasped the hand Phoenix had been holding onto his arm with. Their fingers intertwined and Edgeworth noticed Phoenix beginning to genuinely calm down. After a moment of silence, Edgeworth decided to ask the question that had been nagging at him this whole time.
"What exactly happened to you?"
"I was actually going to surprise you when you came back. I got the key from downstairs but once I walked in, there was someone standing by the window holding a pile of your old case files. As soon as he saw me, he tried to run but I pushed him back. He dropped the files and pulled out a knife. You can probably guess the rest from there"
"What on earth were you going to surprise me with?" Edgeworth asked quickly, swiftly dodging the mental image of Phoenix getting stabbed.
"Well, there was something I wanted to tell you," Phoenix said almost shyly as he turned his head to try and hide his face. But Edgeworth gently squeezed his hand to get him to turn back.
"What was it?" Edgeworth asked with genuine curiosity. But just as Phoenix was about to reply, they both heard the sound of a siren outside.
"That's the ambulance, they're here" Edgeworth smiled reassuringly. A few minutes later the door burst open and two paramedics ran inside. Phoenix stayed in Edgeworth's arms as they checked him over and he didn't let go of his hand even as they lifted him up into the back of the ambulance and Edgeworth quickly slipped himself in to sit down beside him.
"It's okay, they're taking you to the hospital now. You're going to be fine" Edgeworth squeezed Phoenix's hand again, trying to keep the other man calm. His own heart was racing in his chest but his main focus was Phoenix. The ambulance sped down the streets but Edgeworth was barely aware that they were even moving; his eyes stayed fixed on Phoenix as he put every drop of energy he had into keeping the man awake and in the least amount of pain as possible. Only once they reached the hospital and Phoenix was taken away to see a doctor was Edgeworth forced to let go of his hand. His nerves finally caught up with him and he stumbled back into a chair as Phoenix was rushed away.
"What happened?" the voice of a young woman appeared beside Edgeworth. He looked up to see that she was the nurse who had assisted the paramedics in the ambulance. Her voice was soft and calm but it held a cold and calculated sense about it, just like everything else in the hospital. In truth, Edgeworth just wanted to be left alone but he knew any information he had would be helpful to them so he took a slow breath, shakily ran his hand through his hair, and recounted the story to her.
"Thank you, that information will be very useful for the doctor helping your partner" she smiled once Edgeworth had told her everything he knew.
"Oh, no. We're not, I mean he isn't- he's just a friend" Edgeworth spluttered slightly as he felt his cheeks turn pink. The woman nodded apologetically and walked off, but Edgeworth didn't miss the small smile on her face as she left. For the first time that night, Edgeworth found himself with nothing to do. He couldn't check up on Phoenix yet but there was no way he was going home until he could talk to him and make sure he was okay. Purposelessly, he shuffled over to the vending machine, grabbed a drink and a bag of chips, sat back down on one of the highly uncomfortable plastic chairs, and waited.
"Mr Edgeworth?" a delicate, feminine voice brought Edgeworth back into consciousness. He blinked a few times and stretched out his legs as he lifted his head. His eyes came to focus on the nurse from earlier, smiling down at him.
"Mr Wright is in a stable condition. The wound wasn't too deep so no vital organs were hit. Luckily, it looked a lot worse than it actually was. He's been fine for a few hours but you were both asleep so I decided to let you rest. But he's awake now, so I thought you might want to see him"
At hearing that news Edgeworth stood up so fast he stumbled a little. He quickly corrected his footing, gave the nurse an awkwardly embarrassed nod, and asked her to lead the way. He could tell she was politely trying to hold back a giggle as she turned and took him to Phoenix's room.
"I'll give you two some time alone," she said once they were outside his door before turning and walking back down the corridor. Edgeworth took a deep breath, reached out, opened the door, and stepped inside. But nothing could compare to the relief he felt at the sight of Phoenix smiling over at him from the hospital bed, looking completely well despite the IV trailing out from his arm.
"Hey" Phoenix greeted as Edgeworth shut the door behind himself and sat down in the chair beside the bed.
"How are you doing?"
"Considering I was stabbed, pretty good" Phoenix joked and Edgeworth smiled a little wider- at least he still had his sense of humour.
"How long are they going to keep you in for?"
"Just another day, then I'll be free to go"
"Stay with me for a while" Edgeworth offered without thinking and had to stop himself from blushing when he realised what he had just said. Phoenix stared at him, trying to process what had just been said.
"I mean, you really shouldn't be on your own after what has happened to you" Edgeworth tried to recover himself. And he was successful until Phoenix laughed- causing a pale blush to rise up the back of his neck.
"I'd be happy to come stay with you," Phoenix said through his chuckles and Edgeworth let out a quiet, relieved sigh. They briefly smiled at each other before Edgeworth remembered something and his smile became more of a thoughtful frown.
"You never did say what you were going to tell me when I got back to my office" Edgeworth commented and he saw how Phoenix immediately tensed up.
"O-oh, it's nothing" Phoenix stammered, turning away from Edgeworth but the man caught his arm and Phoenix was forced to look back at him. Edgeworth's forehead creased slightly at the look of nervousness in his friend's eyes. Subconsciously, he shuffled himself closer to the bed while still keeping his hand resting gently on Phoenix's arm in an attempt to reassure him.
"It's just, I wanted to tell you that... Well, first I wanted to say how happy I am about our lives. I mean, when you stood up for me all those years ago, I knew you were going to become an amazing man. Don't look at me like that, Edgeworth! It's true. But then to find out what happened to you and your father, I didn't know what to do..."
"You saved me," Edgeworth said so sincerely that Phoenix blinked at him in surprise.
"I wouldn't exactly say-"
"I mean it, Wright. I had become so consumed with some kind of warped perception of vengeance for my father's death. But you showed me how wrong I was. You showed me what it really meant to be a prosecutor"
Phoenix couldn't help the smile forming on his face. Seeing how much he meant to his friend gave him the final push of confidence he needed. He pulled himself up into a proper sitting position by the edge of the bed before putting a finger up to Edgeworth's lips to stop him from talking- which silenced him immediately, much to Phoenix's surprise. The two of them sat there, looking at one another. Phoenix's heart was pounding in his chest as he let his eyes scan over every inch of the other man's face and absorbing every detail. Eventually, Phoenix began to slowly move closer. Edgeworth's body froze in the chair as he felt Phoenix's breath brush against his lips. Edgeworth instinctively let his eyes slide closed and after what seemed like an eternity and a day, Phoenix tentatively pushed their lips together. Suddenly, in the length of a heartbeat, the whole world seemed to melt away around them. Edgeworth placed his hands lightly on Phoenix's shoulders and Phoenix replied instantly by wrapping his arms tightly around Edgeworth's slender waist, pulling him a little closer. It was like nothing Phoenix had ever experienced before. He felt as though he had been surrounded by a warm bubble of pure delight and affection at the feeling of Edgeworth's closeness to him. Then he felt Edgeworth's lips slowly lift up into a smile and his heart almost leapt out of his chest at the realisation that this wasn't a dream; this was really happening. Phoenix pulled himself back a little, just enough to part their lips to allow them both to breathe but he stayed close enough to rest his forehead against Edgeworth's. He saw Edgeworth's smile grow slowly wider as he pushed a lock of his hair back behind his ear.
"Is it true what they say, Miles? Do actions speak louder than words?" Phoenix's voice was barely a whisper as he cast his eyes up to look into Edgeworth's.
"Oh, Phoenix" Edgeworth managed to whisper before wrapping his arms around Phoenix's waist and burying his face in his shoulder. Despite only saying two words, Phoenix knew everything Edgeworth wanted to say as he returned his embrace. So, he replied the only way he knew how.
"I love you too"