When Phoenix received an invitation to the annual Police Officer's Ball he didn't think anything of it. He had a lot of friends in the police department, and once his career was revived he'd started getting invited to quite a lot of things.
However, when his phone rang the next day and Ema Skye's name came up on the display, a tingle of anxiety made him hesitate. He answered the call with a sense of unease in his gut.
"Hey Phenyl," she greeted him.
"Wha-"
"So here's the deal," she said. "I've got two extra tickets to the Officer's Ball and no one to pawn them off on."
"What about Athena?" Phoenix asked. "Or Apollo?"
"Nope, your little minions already bought tickets like good samaritans. Look, these tickets are free and I need someone to take them. I'd hate to see them go to waste. And besides," she said, her voice dropping low, "you do owe me for that info I gave you in the Machina case."
"Alright, alright, I got it." Phoenix sighed and checked his schedule. Sure enough, he was available. "I guess I'll take them."
"Wow, your enthusiasm is blowing me away right now. Look, Mr. Wright, we both know your line of work is stressful. Take some time off, take a date and go dancing. Have a good time."
"Oh yeah, that's definitely less stressful than watching TV in my sweatpants," Phoenix replied. He scratched his head and sighed. "Thank you, Ema. I'm sure I'll have fun."
"That's up to you," Ema replied. "Expect your tickets in the mail. I'll see you there, Phoenix. And you'd better be dancing when I do." With that she hung up.
Phoenix sat at his dinner table and chewed his thumbnail. In all likelihood, Edgeworth was already planning to attend the dance for work reasons. And a dance would provide a good opportunity to further their plans, but the Police Officer's Ball? With so many important people around, was it really a smart choice? Phoenix decided to ask Trucy along when she got home.
"Sorry dad," she said, taking a textbook out of her bag. "I already heard about it from Athena but I've got a test the next day. I've really gotta study."
Phoenix pursed his lips. "You can't work around it?"
"Daddy!" Trucy exclaimed, scandalized.
"I know, I know. You're right, your education comes first." He sighed. "I guess I have to…"
"Have to what?" she asked.
"Huh?" he replied off hand. "Oh, no, it's nothing."
He went to the kitchen and started poking through the freezer for something to eat. She watched after him with big, heartbroken eyes.
Phoenix was already waiting outside when Edgeworth came to pick him up. They drove to the hotel where the ball was being held in relative silence, neither one of them particularly thrilled about their evening plans.
Their appearance at the entrance of the ball drew stares from all over the lobby.
"Phenol!" Ema called out when she saw them. She rushed straight over and bowed. "And Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth."
She was wearing a red cocktail dress with a lab coat on over her shoulders. It was a daring look, and it took a great deal of willpower for Phoenix to keep his mouth shut.
"Thank you for the tickets, Detective Skye," Edgeworth said. He took her hand and kissed it at the knuckle. She giggled and touched her hand.
"Hahaha, you're welcome, have a good night you two!" she choked out before nearly running headfirst into an officer and stumbling off into the crowd.
Phoenix and Edgeworth shrugged at each other and went to find their table.
During the next hour it seemed like every single person in attendance stopped by their table to talk up Edgeworth and give Phoenix dark, suspicious looks. People were trying to get Edgeworth's attention left and right, regardless of what was happening on stage.
Phoenix was on the verge of suggesting that they just split up for the remainder of the event when a shock of red hair caught his attention.
"Oh thank god," he muttered under his breath. He waved enthusiastically. "Athena! Over here!"
She spotted them and walked over, wearing a shiny new dress and looking radiant.
"Hi Mr. Wright," she said. "Prosecutor Edgeworth."
"Hey. So, uh, is anyone else here yet?" Phoenix asked, raising his voice a touch. The speech portion of the evening was over and people were starting to mingle, the din of conversation getting louder and louder.
"You mean like Apollo? Yeah, he's over by the front. We're just waiting for Junie to get here."
A few minutes later, Athena waved Apollo and Juniper over.
"Hi!" Juniper said. "Sorry, it takes me a while to get into town."
Phoenix and Edgeworth both stood up.
"Hello Juniper," Phoenix said warmly. "I hope you enjoy the dance."
"Oh, thank you Mr. Wright! And, um, good evening Chief Prosecutor." She gave a small curtsy to Edgeworth. He smiled and bowed to her respectfully. She blushed and ducked her head low.
They all stood in a circle, staring at each other, waiting. The atmosphere at the office had been a little off for the last few weeks, but here Phoenix felt a distinct chill settle between himself and his young workers.
Phoenix tried to break the silence. "Hey, maybe we should go somewhere quie-"
"Let's head to the dance floor," Apollo interrupted. He offered his hands to Athena and Juniper. Athena took one hand and started walking. Juniper took the other, blushing, pulled along by Athena's pace. "Are you coming, Mr. Wright?" Apollo said as they moved on, a hint of a challenge in his eyes.
"I didn't think you were the dancing type," Phoenix grumbled to himself. He turned to Edgeworth. "Well?"
"Well?" Edgeworth repeated. "I suppose it's not a shocking revelation that we're expected to dance at a dance."
Before he could protest, Phoenix took Edgeworth's hand and led him out to the dance floor.
Phoenix found Apollo and the girls dancing together in the middle of the crowd. He nodded appreciatively to the music and began swaying near Edgeworth. After a few songs Edgeworth started moving a little bit, but he was stiff and didn't look very happy.
"Not your type of music?" Phoenix said over the noise.
"Not my type of dance," Edgeworth replied in a raised voice. "Funny, I'm trained in ballroom dancing, and here we are in a ballroom. And yet…" he waved towards the live band playing loud contemporary music.
Phoenix winked. "Gotcha."
He kept swaying, getting more and more into the music until finally he let loose with his sweet mismatched moves.
"I'm just glad Trucy isn't here to see this," Edgeworth said after watching Phoenix shimmy and flail for a while.
"What? You think she'd be ashamed of her papa?" He thrust his hips in a circle.
Edgeworth grimaced and pushed his glasses up. "Deeply."
Phoenix laughed. "Come on, you could at least move your feet a little." He stopped, crossed his arms and looked down at Edgeworth's shoes. Edgeworth stared back, brow furrowed, and Phoenix raised his eyebrows. Edgeworth groaned and started shuffling his feet. Phoenix chuckled again. "See, you're a natural. You'll be one of Gavin's backup dancers in no time."
Edgeworth rolled his eyes. "High praise indeed, coming from you."
A few minutes later, Ema danced by in her gleaming white coat, and did a double take. Edgeworth coughed and stop moving entirely.
"Hey! And you were doing so well," Phoenix said.
"Mr. Edgeworth!" a familiar booming voice came from behind them. They spun around to see Dick Gumshoe himself, dressed in a shabby, ill-fitting tuxedo. He reached for Edgeworth's hand and shook it hard, nearly knocking him over. "How're you doing?! I haven't seen you in ages! Oh, but I guess I've gotta call you Chief now. Not that I mind, I was calling you chief from the second we met! I could tell you were chief material from the start!" He seemed to notice Phoenix as an afterthought. "Oh, and Mr. Wright. Put 'er there, pal."
Phoenix was better prepared, and braced himself for the handshake.
"It seems like it's been forever, Gumshoe," Phoenix said.
"Yeah well, I haven't been able to get over here much since the baby. As a matter of fact, Maggey was supposed to come with me today but little Jimmy got a fever this morning. I would've stayed home with them but she insisted I go." He clapped them both on the shoulders. "Glad you two are here though, huh? Did you bring dates?"
They glanced at each other.
"Eh?" Gumshoe said, glancing back and forth between them. "What's the matter?"
Edgeworth opened his mouth but Phoenix cut in first. "Edgeworth is my date," he said.
Gumshoe gaped at them. Edgeworth turned a furious eye on Phoenix.
"Are…are you two…"
"No!" Edgeworth barked, his fists clenched.
"Shh," Phoenix said, nodding in the direction of their young colleagues.
"Wright," Edgeworth hissed between his teeth.
Gumshoe put his hands up and laughed nervously. "Looks like a tricky situation." He scratched his head. "I mean, I'm not surprised or anything. I just, considering the way things used to be, I didn't think you would ever…" At seeing the look on Edgeworth's face, he started to back away. "I'll just, I need to go talk to some folks. Hope I see you around." He gave a hasty wave and disappeared with impressive speed for a man his size.
For a few minutes, Phoenix let Edgeworth fume silently, shifting his weight from foot to foot to the beat of the music. Edgeworth calmed down after a few songs, rocking from side to side, his arms still crossed.
"We can't take it that far, Wright," Edgeworth whispered during a lull in the music.
"What do you…" Phoenix started, only to be interrupted by a lone singer taking the microphone. The slow songs were starting. Phoenix could feel eyes on him, Apollo and Athena burning holes into the back of his head. He held out his hand.
Edgeworth stared at it, a flash of anger in his eyes, but Phoenix tilted his head and Edgeworth grunted and chewed his lip. After a moment of hesitation, he took Phoenix's hand.
Phoenix slid his other hand around Edgeworth's waist and spun them around. As the song progressed they got closer and closer, spinning in slow circles together and getting lost in the flow of the music. The next one was even slower; a stillness hung over them and without thinking they pressed flush against each other, not a gap of breathing room between them. Phoenix brushed his cheek against Edgeworth's, and his eyes fluttered closed as he breathed out warm and soft at the crook of Edgeworth's neck . Edgeworth sighed through his nose. He readjusted his glasses and opened his eyes and, blinking in the dim light, was horrified to see just how many sets of eyes were on them.
He ripped himself away from Phoenix and wound his way through a sea of entwined couples and off the dance floor.
Phoenix watched him go, too surprised to move. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Apollo watching him as he danced cheek-to-cheek with a flustered Juniper.
His heart leapt into his throat and his legs finally got some sense and started moving in Edgeworth's direction. He wandered through a few deserted hallways until he caught sight of Edgeworth's silver hair and started in on him. Edgeworth was leaning against the wall at the very end of the hallway, one hand slowing stroking his face.
When he saw Phoenix coming towards him he just moved over and closed his eyes. Phoenix propped himself next to Edgeworth, looked up at the ceiling and waited.
"Wright," Edgeworth said softly. "I'm okay with this ruse. I am. I wouldn't have agreed to come with you if I wasn't. But I can't be so blatant about it. Not in front of everyone else. Not in front of…other people who know us."
Phoenix closed his eyes and nodded.
"We can pretend in front of our subordinates. Eventually this thing's going to come to a head and they'll find out the truth. They're part of this. Everyone else, though…" Edgeworth scrubbed his face harder. "It's one thing to let the rumor mill do its work. People will assume all manner of things, and once the interest dies down they'll forget. But if we confirm it for them, it's going to make my job a lot harder."
Phoenix pursed his lips. "So you're saying that if we were actually dating, you wouldn't want anyone to know?"
"What?" Edgeworth stared at him. "That's not what I'm saying at all!"
"But you're implying it." Phoenix crossed his arms.
"But we're not dating, so it's irrelevant."
"I know it's irrelevant," Phoenix whispered harshly, the echo of their voices traveling through the tunnel of hallways behind them. "I just want to know what's so bad about you dating a defense attorney."
"I don't understand why you're so offended," Edgeworth said. "It should be obvious. If I was seen to be too intimate with someone like you it could spell trouble for the course of my career."
Phoenix clutched at his chest and leaned his head against the wall. "God, I can't believe you."
In his periphery, he saw a flash of red and yellow.
"Phoenix, you're being completely unreasonable! For the last time, we're not even- mmmph!"
In a split second, Phoenix launched himself at Edgeworth's mouth, kissing the words out of him just in time as Athena and Apollo rounded the corner at the opposite end of the hallway.
"Phoenix," Edgeworth said breathlessly as he broke away. Then he noticed the tip of Apollo's bizarre signature hairstyle peek around the corner from a less-than-conspicuous hiding spot. His heart sank down to his toes but he recovered quickly and determination flashed in his eyes. He slid his hand across Phoenix's neck and pulled him in for another kiss, deeper and longer than before. When they came up for air his head was spinning, and he was thankful that he was propped up by the wall.
Phoenix kissed him again, sweet and soft to the corner of his mouth, and nosed his way down Edgeworth's chin to his bare neck. Edgeworth could feel Phoenix's breath ghosting just above his collar and then a gentle scrape of teeth that sent blood rushing to his pale skin. He gasped and clutched at Phoenix's back, and bit his lip to keep in the noise surging up through his throat. Phoenix's lips curled into a small smile and he pressed a kiss against the red mark spreading across Edgeworth's neck like ink on paper.
Several lovebites later, Edgeworth managed to cast a glance down the hallway. They were alone.
He waited another minute just to be sure.
"I think they're gone," Edgeworth whispered, tugging on the back of Phoenix's jacket.
"Hm?" Phoenix mumbled, the sound vibrating against Edgeworth's bruised skin. Edgeworth let out a low moan and gently pushed Phoenix away.
"They're gone," he repeated, softer this time.
Phoenix covered his mouth and looked up at him through his eyelashes. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I just wanted to make it look…you know, convincing."
"Of course," Edgeworth said, straightening out his clothes as Phoenix did the same.
"Of course," Phoenix repeated.
They wandered back down the hallway in a bit of a daze. Edgeworth pulled his collar up as high as he could.
After searching the crowd they spotted their group standing by the refreshments. Athena and Apollo both met them with scrutiny, their arms crossed. Juniper kept spooning punch into her overflowing cup, unable look at them.
The decision to leave early wasn't a difficult one.
On their way out, Ema gave Phoenix a small side hug, and bowed again to Edgeworth. A bit less controlled than usual, Edgeworth bowed a little too low and just avoided tumbling over, and then waved to a stunned looking Gumshoe as they passed him by.
On the ride back, they didn't exchange a single word.
Late into the night, Edgeworth spent a small eternity studying himself in the mirror, touching his neck with tender fingers and comparing the bruising there to the bags under his eyes.