Be My Friend
Ch. 5
Disclaimer and notes: I own nothing, just had an idea of how character interactions could have gone in "Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright" and went with it. I MIGHT have messed up either the timeline in the two games or Phoenix and Layton's ages, I'm not sure.
The couch was not comfortable two nights in a row. Phoenix nearly fell asleep once. He almost did again, later. Thunder shook the windows. He kept shivering. The blankets were too hot.
Labyrinthia came to him when he relaxed too much. Armored hands slammed into desks. Drafts leaked through creaking doors. Fire licked at his cheeks. Maya was in that fire. Luke was crying into his shoulder. Everything he thought cornered around Espella, Espella's welfare, Espella's happiness, Espella's innocence, Espella Espella Espella Espella Espella-
How much of his thoughts were his own in that place? What did they do to his mind? Would they have erased Maya from his life completely? Separated them? Would he have seen her burned as a witch? Cheered for Barnham to throw her to her death in the flames?
Five years of his life replaced on a whim by Arthur Cantabella because he hadn't followed the script. Professor Layton "killed" by his own writing. Would he have broken him the same way, if things hadn't worked out? Would Layton look at him with those dead eyes of Kira's, not knowing his name? Knowing nothing but doing Darklaw's bidding?
These thoughts hadn't come to him before, not like tonight. They sneaked into his conscious mind when he wasn't distracted by other things, by fish and heights and food. But now, with only the rain and the dark, the pure black he had been programmed not to see, with the promise of Edgeworth sending him home, all his mind could think about was Labyrinthia.
Was this on purpose? Had Layton been trying to distract them all from the horrors they had witness, even subconsciously?
Had Layton been trying to distract himself?
… was he Layton's distraction?
No, couldn't be.
Just accept it. Accept it all. The sadness, the remorse... everything. I don't blame you for expressing how hard this whole situation has been on you. Would you?
Rouge's words, if that was her real name, echoed through his head. He had been through some terrible things... They all had. They needed time to cope. Time and honesty, just like that night in the tavern. It wasn't going to do them any good if they spent the rest of their time with each other ignoring what happened to them.
He couldn't sleep. He couldn't tell what time it was by looking out the window. He got dressed and turned on the TV on the softest volume. Nothing was on.
A show and a half later, Phoenix heard feet on the stairs. Luke came downstairs wearing pajamas and socks, rubbing his eyes free of tears. Phoenix handed him the remote, and Luke sat beside him. Luke put it on early morning children's shows, little quiet programs for babies waking up for school. The soft words and gentle colors put Luke at ease, and Phoenix let him use his arm for a pillow. The windows rattled.
Phoenix knew Maya's footfalls by now, bare toes smacking against hardwood floors. Maya joined them on Phoenix's other side, snuggling into the crook of his chest and taking two long breaths before falling back asleep. Maybe it was the first time she slept that night. Her breathing was soft and even, and Phoenix's head quickly began to weigh more than it had a few minutes ago. A little shift of his weight put his back flush against the sofa cushions, and sleep finally took him.
He only felt the passage of time when the TV blared a louder commercial than before. His body sizzled as if he'd been dropped in a frying pan. Life swam back in where odd dreams had been before. Layton had taken the other side of the couch, dressed but shoeless and always in his hat, Luke tucked under his arm, both asleep.
Phoenix shifted until he and Layton could touch knees, keeping Maya's head on his shoulder, and drifted off again.
Of course, they couldn't stay asleep, not at all. Phoenix's cell phone rang, and his alarmed shiver sent a chain reaction through the couch, waking up everyone else. Damn Edgeworth and his plane tickets, fine, okay Edgeworth, tomorrow at 5, get to the airport by 3, earlier if you can manage, okay, thank you Edgeworth, yes, Edgeworth, bye, EDGEWORTH, thank you, bye.
"Hey Nick, look!" His vision obscured with blue and orange for a minute, until his focal point adjusted and he found himself looking at Tony the Tiger. "They call them 'Frosties!' here! Why aren't they called 'Frosties!' at home?"
"Well, Wendy's would have a problem with it, for one thing..." Phoenix shook his head clear. "Okay, we have a departure time for tomorrow. Gotta be by the airport by at least 3 o' clock p.m., bags packed and ready."
"Aaaw..." Maya whimpered, clutching the box to her chest. "Stupid international travel..."
"Yeah, I know... And raining on our last day in London, too." Phoenix and Maya's gaze fell on the window and the heaping rain pouring onto it.
"You'll find that it rains most days in London," Luke called out from the kitchen. "We're lucky that we got the sun while we did!"
"Looks like we're entertaining ourselves for the day." Phoenix's hands itched. Something about this morning? He'd tried to remember something. Maya released the Frosties box, apologetically uncrinkling Tony the Tiger.
Right! That was it!
Phoenix pulled Maya to him and hugged her tight, his words muffled into her shoulder and his chest tickling from a crumped box of Frosties. "MAN I'm glad you're with me-"
Maya, of course, screamed in his ear in delight and crushed his ribs while he was at it. "You're the best, Nick! I'm glad you didn't die too!"
"Oi! What's she getting hugs for?" Luke peeked out of the kitchen door from an angle that meant he had to be, at least, standing on the table itself to see. "I wanna hug too!"
"Oh you are getting THE BIGGEST HUG!" Maya disappeared into the kitchen in a flurry of nightgown, spinning Luke into a hug that knocked over at least a chair and wobbled a potted plant. Phoenix put the forgotten Frosties up onto a bookshelf, the nearest flat surface he could find, and pondered where the professor might've gotten to. If any man needed to get in on Hugfest 2015, it was one Herschel Layton.
He didn't have to look. Layton stepped, stage right, into the frame of the kitchen doorway with a cup of tea and an improperly large smile on his face. Phoenix stepped into the melee and slung an arm around Layton. "I'm glad you're here too, you know. Got anything to keep us company until the rain lets up?
"I'm sure we could find something to entertain ourselves until your flight," said Layton. He was still distant and foggy, probably sleep-deprived. Phoenix felt the little tremor of shyness that came with worry, the thought that he might be the distraction, and spoke his mind.
"Don't feel like you need to distract us from anything. I'm always just happy to spend time with you." He patted Layton's back softly, stopping as he took another long draft of tea and took in Maya and Luke fixing another bowl of sugar cereal. "And if you need to talk about anything, just let me know, and I'll listen-"
Layton didn't answer verbally, but crossed an arm over his chest to lay a hand over Phoenix's. He was blushing over his nose, only barely visible under the brim of his hat and even then only if Phoenix leaned the right way.
"You do so much simply by being here," he said quietly. "Thank you, Phoenix."
Layton let go, and the moment passed. "Finish up, children. I believe today calls for computer puzzles."
Maya stopped in her tracks, still gripping Luke in her arms. "Computer puzzles?"
Luke kicked his feet happily. "On quiet days, the professor and I play King's Quest together!"
"Oh my god I haven't played a King's Quest game in ages..." Phoenix laughed to himself. "I never got past the dwarves with the senses on the island..."
"Did you get the rabbit's foot from the ferryman?" Luke asked.
"Wait, stop. Everybody stop," Maya commanded. "I don't speak fluent nerd."
Speak it or not, Maya had the computer to herself and Luke, immersed into King's Quest VI too soon to think about. Phoenix and Layton kept a watchful distance, first out of courtesy and later because Phoenix had to physically withhold Layton from answering the puzzles for the children. With the kids entertaining themselves, Phoenix and Layton took the time to wash clothes and get their cases packed so going to the airport would be no trouble. A little walk to the shop around the corner got them small snacks and convenience food that was a lot of grease but sat well in their bellies on a cold day.
"You know, I was worried you might not like us after a few days," Phoenix admitted in a vulnerable moment. Luke and Maya both were falling asleep at the keyboard, and Phoenix had just finished walking Maya back to bed when Layton met him at the door. "With how Maya and I act around each other, you know, thought you'd get sick of us fast..."
Layton smiled and toyed with the brim of his hat. "Phoenix Wright, you are a man of truth in all things."
He must have been more tired than he thought, because the statement hit him across the temples like a boat oar and his mind refused to process it. "What?"
The fingers on Layton's hat became less of a habit and more of a shield the longer he spoke, the brim slowly covering his eyes and nose as the admission flowed from him. "It is a part of you I've found drawn to my attention more than once. You seek the truth in the face of insurmountable odds, you speak the truth to others, and you strive to find it within yourself. There is a sincerity about you that..."
The brim wasn't enough. Layton turned his body away shyly, shielding himself with his arm. "That I quite envy."
"Huh." Phoenix stepped around to Layton's front, and again when he tried to turn away until Layton finally looked up at him again, apprehension in his shoulders and eyes. "Because the whole time I've been jealous of your cool head."
"That has come from years of diligent practice, my friend. You could very well do the same," Layton encouraged, "Although the world would be lesser without your natural enthusiasm."
Now Phoenix was blushing, he was almost sure. "Aw come on, you're flattering me."
"I am simply trying your methods, my friend. These words come from the bottom of my heart."
Phoenix could feel himself shrinking, shoulders folding up to hide his reddening neck. "Oh come on..."
Layton gasped in a quick breath, shoulders straightening, preparing himself. "Now I think you have an idea of how you've made me feel for the last few days."
Phoenix threaded his fingers through his hair. "I feel like I'm blushing hard enough to melt through the floor."
The professor chuckled. "That is one way of putting it."
"Why the sudden rush of honesty?"
"A fantastic display of emotional catharsis." Layton's jaw flexed oddly, and Phoenix realized he was stifling a yawn behind closed teeth and felt the need to yawn himself. "Along with an interrupted sleep schedule..."
"A nap's looking like a pretty good idea..." Phoenix stretched, arms over his head and then down to his navel. "Pardon me if I fall asleep on the couch..."
Hands met his. Phoenix unraveled from a long stretch and waited as Layton held their hands together, pondering his choice of words and, carefully, speaking them. "I would be remiss to keep you out of an available bed."
The weight of the words hung directly on his heart. He tucked a thumb over a few of Layton's fingers, returning the kind gesture with a quivering little squeeze. "Maya and Luke are sleeping. The only one left is yours."
Layton nodded, never dropping eye contact. "That is correct."
Phoenix's mouth went dry. "Where will you sleep?"
Layton's smile was so small, so hopeful. Phoenix returned it and it grew. "Next to you, if you will have me."
"I'll... uh... have?"
Layton's lip twisted in a snort, and Phoenix's chest tickled. They laughed, a real laugh like Edgeworth got out of him yesterday. Layton fell onto him laughing, Phoenix gripping at his shoulders, all relief and entirely happy and so incredibly embarrassed, with a small professor to match! They parted for their pajamas, changed on their own and brushed their teeth one after the other in the master bathroom. The professor's bed was small, barely bigger than a twin, and Phoenix immediately felt like an oaf taking up so much room. Layton hung his hat on a stand next to the bed, blocking out the light from outside coming through the window. Phoenix on the left side, Layton on the right, Layton curled into his side and reached over him to turn off the side table lamp.
No television, no window, no Labyrinthia tonight. Phoenix wrapped an arm around Layton's shoulders and laid his head down on a real, full-size pillow, and fell deep asleep in warmth and comfort.