"Mm-mm! You know the rules, Daddy," Trucy declared, stepping through the doorway. "A magician never reveals her secrets!"

"But Trucy!" Phoenix whined. "I'm your dad, come on!"

"I'm sorry, Daddy," said Trucy, "but everyone knows you have loose lips."

Phoenix took in a dramatic gasp. "I do not! I can keep a secret, right, Miles?"

Miles gave a sidelong glance at Trucy, and she shook her head. "I'm sorry, Phoenix. But she's right. You're a loose-lipped Lucy."

Trucy giggled. "Excellent work, Papa."

Slightly red in the face, Miles nodded. "I do my best."

Trucy picked up her school things, shifting through papers of all different colors and degrees of doodled-on. "Oh, Papa, can you help with with this pre cal homework? It's really hard."

Miles took the sheet from her. "Polar equations? Alright then, Trucy. Come into the dining room and we can do it together."

Trucy obediently obliged, following Miles into his big dining room. Phoenix laid back on he couch and smiled. It was so good that Trucy had somewhere nice that she could work and study in. As much as he loved the Agency, it wasn't exactly a nice place to live. Miles really was so good to her, a high-caliper dad even Gregory Edgeworth would have been proud of. He sighed happily. He and Miles were really lucky.

Phoenix was broken out of his reverie by muffled laughter from the dining room. It was nice that they were bonding- but wait. Bonding over polar equations? Something fishy was going on here.

Phoenix marched through the room and straight to the dining table, narrowing his eyes at Miles and Trucy, who were both failing to conceal smiles. Miles' glasses were halfway down his nose and Trucy had one gloved hand over her mouth, sniggering. "Now what's all this about?"

Trucy snapped to attention. "Nothing, Daddy! Polar equations are just so... fun!"

"I know better than that, Trucy! Polar equations aren't fun unless you're an accountant!"

Miles broke out into a full, deep laugh at that, doubling over with the force of it. He pulled off his glasses and cleaned them as he chuckled. "But Phoenix, we lawyers aren't that- that different from accountants!"

It was then that Phoenix spotted the bouquet of flowers discarded quickly behind Trucy's chair. He gasped and pointed an accusatory finger towards Trucy. "You've been teaching Miles your magic tricks!"

Trucy froze up. "I- I-"

Miles composed himself, and spoke for her, fighting a smirk off his face. "Well, maybe if you were such a loose-lipped Lucy she would tell you, too."

Trucy shrugged at her father. "It's true, Daddy. Uncle Miles knows all my secrets, because he can keep them. Aaaaand, I know he won't try to copy them."

Phoenix put a dramatic hand on his chest and gasped. "My own daughter, keeping things from me! I'm being ganged up on! Well maybe I'll tell Apollo all about your using his files to make paper airplanes."

Trucy's mouth hung open. "You wouldn't! How did you even know that was me? It could've been Athena!"

"I didn't! I was bluffing, sweetie!" Phoenix proclaimed.

"It's his only skill," Miles said wryly, and Trucy snickered.

"You two are awful! How about your Steel Samurai and Pink Princess blu-rays, Miles? And how excited you were when you met Will Powers?"

Miles glared at Phoenix with a ferocity that would've scared anyone else, but Phoenix knew better. Miles was all bark and no bite. "The Steel Samurai is a classic!"

Trucy cracked up laughing and clutched onto Miles' arm for support. "I'm s-sorry, Pap-a, but the- the Pink Pr-incess? Real-really?"

Miles swatted her arm away. "I'm disowning you."

Trucy looked up at him with her biggest doe eyes and her evilest look. "You wouldn't. You love me too much! Besides, I know all about your massive childhood crush on my dad, and we wouldn't want that information leaking out, would we?"

Miles drew back at the sinister look on Trucy's face, and shot a pleading, if embarrassed, look at Phoenix. "You've let your daughter resort to blackmail?"

Phoenix shrugged. "You can't control teenagers, Miles."

Miles shook his head. "Well, young lady, I demand an apology if you want your special macaroni casserole tonight."

Trucy's eyes went wide and all evil left her face. "Papa, I'm sorry! Please, please, PLEASE make the casserole! Also I love you!"

Miles chuckled and ruffled Trucy's hair, rolling his eyes at her fondly. "So NOW you love me. How convenient." Trucy pouted up at him. "I'm only teasing, Trucy. It's casserole for dinner today."

Trucy stood up and wrapped her arms around her step-father. "Thank you, Papa!" She released her arms and immediately bounced out of the room and up the stairs to her room, grabbing her backpack as she went. "I'll be doing homework till it's ready!" she called down.

Phoenix shook his head and rolled his eyes, and Miles clucked his tongue as his partner came strolling over to him. "She's quite a handful, Phoenix."

"Yeah, but she's ours." Phoenix smiled at him, wrapping his arms around the other man's waist. "Plus, now I can ask about that massive childhood crush on me."

Miles' ears went red. "It was 25 years ago, Phoenix! We've been together for half of that!"

Phoenix leaned down towards Miles and smiled. "Hey, it's cool. For the record, I thought you were pretty great back then, too," he said, pressing a kiss to Miles' lips.

Miles raised his eyebrows. "So much so that you became a lawyer for me."

"Not just for you!" Phoenix protested. "But it's okay, I don't mind admitting it, because I love you."

Miles pressed a kiss back on Phoenix's lips, holding his face with one hand and his waist with the other. "And I love you, too. But now I have I make dinner, or you may end up having to defend your daughter for my murder."

Phoenix laughed and detached himself from his partner with a final kiss to his cheek. "Aye-aye, Captain. Do you need any help?"

Miles smiled gently at Phoenix. "I'd love some."

AN: I got an A in calculus two during high school and I still don't know how to do polar equations.

Anyway, let me know what you think! I have so many unpublished domestic Ace Attorney fic drafts on my phone.