(A/N: Again, another Mia/Phoenix fic. I'll get back to the rest of the queue in Jan, promise. This was a request from the Kink Meme.

Phoenix Wright and related characters are the property of Capcom…who are nice people and don't want to sue me.

Challenge: Phoenix is dutifully working as Mia Fey's assistant at her law firm as he works to pass his bar exam. One day, for whatever reason, Mia realizes that Phoenix has not really interacted with or shown interest in any other women since Dahlia. When questioned, Phoenix admits that since Dahlia hadn't actually liked him, he doesn't really think there's anything about him to like; that, and most of the women he ends up attracted to are similar to Dahlia and he doesn't want that.

So Mia proceeds to show him what it is about him that a real woman would like, and how a real woman acts.)

Mia had come to a realization.

She'd noticed it, sure, but had filed it away in the back of her mind with the other seemingly irrelevant observations one makes during the average day, but the realization that accompanied these particular observations couldn't be ignored. Phoenix, who had, in his free time since his trial, been helping her out around the newly formed Fey and Co. as an assistant, had not been in a relationship since the ill-fated one with Dahlia Hawthorne. Given as many hours as he'd spent in the office, she really should have picked up on it sooner, but getting her firm up and off the ground had taken up most of her focus for the past couple of months, so a little thing like her friend's (for he'd stopped being just an assistant within the first week) love life, or lack thereof, had slipped her by.

The rhythmic shuffling of Phoenix ordering files in the front office flowed through the room as Mia absently rotated the pencil in her hand, poised over the ledger containing the firm's finances. Realizing she wasn't going to get any work done until she'd gotten to the bottom of the whole situation, Mia shut the ledger with a satisfying 'thump' and walked out to the front office. Phoenix stood leaning over the front desk, stacked files scuffing against his faded jeans.

On hearing the sharp click of Mia's heels, he looked up from the files he was organizing and gave her a warm smile. "Hey, Mia. Did you need one of the files? I've got most of the early cases sorted."

Mia returned his smile. "No, but you've already got that much done?"

"Well it wasn't easy at first, but once I understood the system you used when packing them, it got a lot faster." He laughed. "Of course, it would be better if we'd gotten that file cabinet when were supposed to."

"Too true, but you have to always expect something to go wrong."

There was a glint of amusement in Phoenix's eyes. "So did you just come out her to talk about our filing cabinet woes? Not that I'm complaining for the break at all…"

Mia's smile dimmed a little. "Actually, I wanted to ask you something…personal if I could, Phoenix, and you don't have to answer it if you don't want to."

Phoenix straightened up. "Alright, ask away."

I haven't seen you dating anyone since…that woman, and I was just wondering why."

Phoenix sighed and slumped into the chair at the desk, his legs slightly propped up by the stack of files. "I was wondering when you'd pick up on that…Well, I guess I figured that if Dahlia hadn't really loved me, that there wasn't much about me to love, you know? That's not to say that I didn't try after that case, but…" he ruffled his spikes with his right hand. "I seem to meet the same kind of women, so it just seemed sort of pointless when I knew the relationships would all just blow up in my face. It just seems easier to focus on work and my studies and not worry about it."

The kicked puppy look on his face made Mia mentally curse Dahlia Hawthorne yet again. It seemed even behind bars the woman managed to deeply affect those she'd deceived. The silence that hung in the air after his answer apparently made Phoenix uncomfortable, because he stood back up and started organizing the files he'd been working on before.

Mia maneuvered her way through the files until she was standing along side the desk, and leaned up against it for a moment before speaking. "You're just looking in the wrong places."

Phoenix looked up, and his eyes were trapped by Mia's intense gaze. "What?"

"You're a good guy, Phoenix."

Phoenix turned back to his files, breaking eye contact. "You haven't known me that long Mia…how can you say that?"

"Anyone who has had a conversation with you could tell. I could tell, even during your trial, that you're a very warm, sincere individual, you just made a bad choice in Dahlia Hawthorne, and she used that to her advantage like she's used everyone else in her life. Besides, you need to look for women, not girls like Dahlia."

Phoenix straightened up, staring straight ahead, that kicked puppy expression on his face again. "I don't know, I mean, I don't even know what I'd look for…"

Phoenix heard Mia shift her weight off of the desk and for a moment, he thought she was going to head back into her office. He was shocked when she rather forcefully spun him around and pinned him against the desk, her face inches away from his.

He felt his face grow hot as she pressed her body against his. "M-Mia? What're you—"

"Tell me…would Dahlia have done this?"

Phoenix didn't get a chance to respond immediately, as Mia kissed him, her lips insistent on his. He let out a short surprised noise, which Mia used to her advantage by slipping her tongue into his open mouth. Phoenix let out a low groan and reciprocated in kind, feeling the desk digging into the palms of his hands and his lower back.

Eventually the lack of oxygen forced Mia to break the kiss, panting slightly. Phoenix rather hazily noticed that he was all but lying on top of the desk and Mia hadn't pulled back, but at this point he was too dazed to care.

He managed to weakly get out. "Wow…I…that was amazing…"

Mia moved one hand to trace his jaw line; her smile was warm and her voice had dropped to a whispery purr that sent chills up Phoenix's spine. "That's what a real woman is like Phoenix. Still don't know what to look for?"

A slow smile spread across Phoenix's face. "I don't have to look anymore, do I?"

Mia's smile widened and she dipped her head so that her lips were achingly close to his. "Not any further than my office."

Phoenix smiled as she kissed him again.

(Comments are welcomed and appreciated)