Day 37: Acerbic

"Miss Cykes," Phoenix glared at her over his steepled fingers. He had his chin tucked and a few strands of his normally erect spikes fell over his forehead, "This is the third time this week!"

"I'm sorry boss," the redhead whipped her long hair back and forced a smile at him.

"You know, 'I'm sorry' isn't good enough anymore," Phoenix's glare darkened, "Not when you're consistently late!"

"Oh come on, boss! At least I'm consistent! Consistency is nothing to scoff at!"

Shifting the working hours to the right will make it early!

Phoenix dropped his hands onto his desk and scowled at her and that little robot thing!

"I'm not doing it to test your boundaries or push your buttons, honest!"

"It just seems blatantly out of character," Phoenix's brows rose in sympathy, "I'm starting to worry about you, Athena."

She met his stare and swallowed, "Everything is fine!"

"Now you're starting to sound like Apollo... Speaking of..." Phoenix glared at his watch and frowned, "He's late today too."

"Oh," Athena's irises shifted guiltily, "I'm sure he has a good reason, boss."

Phoenix leaned back in his chair, "That's my point. You two always have a good reason, but you have yet to actually give me more than wishy-washy excuses for your tardiness!"

Athena stood back aghast; she'd never seen his anger directed at her. He was surprisingly intimidating.

Phoenix jabbed an index finger forcefully in her direction, "Why are you late today?"

"Boss?"

"You heard me," Phoenix said.

"Oh, well... Honestly," she tried to drag this out, tried to come up with a reason that would satisfy Phoenix Wright, "I—um... I woke up late."

Stayed up all night with Apollo Justice!

One of Phoenix's eyebrows arched upward inquisitively, "What?"

Athena chuckled nervously, "Um... Widget... You know..."

"You and Apollo aren't—?"

"NO!" Athena held up her hands and waved them in front of Phoenix, "No way, boss!"

"It can create unnecessary tension in the workplace..."

"No, I absolutely agree, boss!"

"But you two have gotten awful chummy..."

"Well... You know, we..."

"I was thinking about expanding our operations... It might be good to send one of you away, to head up a new branch of the firm."

"A new branch!"

"I was thinking Miami..."

"Miami?! On the other side of the country, Miami?!"

"It'll benefit everyone in the end," Phoenix smirked a little and rubbed his hands together evilly.

"You'd open a firm on the other side of the country just to split up me and Apollo?"

"HOLD IT!"

Phoenix was pointing his finger at her again, "So you and Apollo ARE an item?"

Athena covered her mouth with both hands and peeked at him sheepishly.

They're totes dating!

Phoenix's brow furrowed, "So the truth comes out..."

Athena glared defiantly at him, "So what? I mean so what, Boss?"

"It can interfere with our work, Athena. It already has! What with you two coming in late all the time."

"Mister Wright!" Athena leaned toward him, fists clenched bravely at her sides, "When did you go from "Ace Attorney" to "ACE-erbic Attorney"!"

Phoenix startled for a moment and then shook his head and composed himself, "Acerbic Attorney?"

Athena crossed her arms and raised her chin, shooting him a side-long glance, "You're totally acerbic right now."

Acerbic

a·cer·bic [uh-sur-bik] adj. 1. sour or astringent in taste: Lemon juice is acerbic. 2. harsh or severe, as of temper or expression: acerbic criticism.

A/N: Hi! Thanks for reading! Still on partial hiatus, but I still write when I can. This story and a few others have a buffer, so hopefully I can still get out weekly updates!

Challenge: Write a story about Athena and Phoenix's relationship!

GUEST AUTHORS FOR WORD OF THE DAY

If you are interested in trying your hand at this, please PM me or visit this forum: forum/Edgeworth-s-Tee-House/144607/1/73016/

Please? These are fun to write!