Chapter 2

"He probably was afraid how'd you react. I mean this is probably the type of reaction he was expecting," Maya said simply.

Pearl was looking at all the notes Ema was fervently writing down.

But Larry wasn't listening to Maya. He was too absorbed with the fact that his friends would keep such an important secret from him, making him feel extremely left out. This was definitely something that did not sit well with Larry.

Before Maya, Ema, or Pearl could say anything else to him, Larry was making his way over to their table, yelling at what appeared to be the top of his lungs, "I DON'T BELIEVE YOU GUYS, HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME THAT YOU TWO WERE DATING?!"

Maya just wished the rest of them could hide.

So much for spying undercover...she thought, clapping a hand to her forehead.

The expression on Miles's face was a mix of shock and horror. Yes, he had expected spying. He didn't expect Larry walking up to them. Not only that, yelling at the top of his lungs of their date. He felt extremely uncomfortable suddenly as many eyes were all directed towards Phoenix, Larry, and himself. His grip on Phoenix's hand tightened unconsciously.

"Are we in trouble?" Pearl asked Maya nervously.

"Probably. We ruined their date and potentially exposed their whole relationship." Maya suddenly feared this whole fiasco would cause problems for the two attorneys.

Phoenix was just in shock at the sudden appearance of Larry yelling at the top of his lungs, so it was very difficult to get his mind straight enough to speak.

"Larry...what are you doing here?" Phoenix asked him carefully, not knowing what he could say to calm Larry down enough to stop people from staring at them.

Phoenix was just too in shock to even think of letting go of Miles's hand, which was probably not helping people to stop staring at them.

Maya decided that there was no other reason to hide, revealed herself.

"Nick, Larry wanted to know who you were with so he barged into the office earlier today. He didn't believe me when I told him who. I didn't mean to cause this commotion..." Maya's expression showed that she really didn't mean for this to happen. Why does Larry always have to over react to everything?

Larry pointed at Phoenix and Miles in what seemed to be almost in a scolding way. "That's right! I can't believe you didn't tell me! Me! Larry, your best friend!" It seemed trying to calm down Larry would require a lot of work.

"Stop yelling at Mr. Nick!" Pearl suddenly piped in, approaching Larry with an angry look on her face.

Larry was once again afraid of her and stopped yelling immediately. Ema slowly followed behind her, still scribbling things down in her notebook.

"Little girl frightens older man with orange hair. Mr. Wright and Mr. Edgeworth both have horrified expressions on their faces...perhaps they are embarrassed their friend is being picked on by a 10 year old..." Ema mumbled to herself as she wrote.

"P-Phoenix. Let's go." Miles quickly fumbled for money to leave on the table. Miles really felt like dying just about now. Not only were they spied on by four different people, their relationship was exposed to an entire restaurant. "I-I'll take you out to eat again...w-when Larry isn't bursting in at random."

Oh I'm pretty sure those horrified expressions aren't because of Pearly... Maya thought as she heard what Ema was writing. Although it seemed Pearl's power over Larry had started getting the attention of part of the crowd away from Phoenix and Miles.

"Yeah, let's." Phoenix muttered back to Miles, hurriedly getting up from the table and leading the way out of the restaurant.

Miles quickly followed not wanting to be stared at any longer. Maya had noticed their departure but chose not to follow. If she did, she'd probably end up bringing Larry with her too, and Larry was the problem in the first place. Why couldn't he just believe me when I told him? Maya thought bitterly.

When they had gotten to Miles's car and sat down, now far away from all prying eyes, they took a moment to actually figure out what the heck happened.

"Of everyone to find out about us, it had to be Larry..." Phoenix said softly, still thoroughly embarrassed by everything that had just happened.

"He'd find out sooner or later. Although I wish he didn't find out like this." Miles sighed, their date pretty much ruined. "It wasn't just Larry, it was Ema too." Thank god it wasn't anyone like Franziska. He wasn't sure what would have happened if she found out. "What now?" He didn't really want to go out anymore, but he had been looking forward to this.

"I don't know...I just want to go somewhere where I can be alone with you in peace." Phoenix said with a determined expression on his face.

"I guess we should go back to my place than." Although you surely won't find peace with Pess around. Miles fished out his keys from his pocket and inserted them into the ignition. "You do know we'll have to talk to Larry sooner or later now that he knows."

Phoenix let out a big sigh in defeat and said, "Yeah, I know. I've felt really bad about keeping everything a secret from him, but I knew he'd react this way."

Phoenix was silent for a moment while Miles started the car but then he said in amusement, "...It's my place too, you know."

Miles couldn't help but blush a bit at this remark. "I-I meant that. S-Shall we go h-home then?" He felt foolish that saying that one word could cause him to stutter so easily.

"I guess home is the only place that's safe really..." Phoenix said, his tone serious once again.

Phoenix pondered on how exactly to talk to Larry about this, since everything had gone so wrong already.

I know he's not going to be pleased to find out that Miles and I have been dating for a long while and have also moved in together...Phoenix thought, feeling a little glum.

Miles started driving home. A thought passed his mind.

"Phoenix? Larry knows where we live doesn't he? Or at least where you used to live..." Would he pass by our houses? Hopefully not. It was Larry after all, he was always doing reckless things. "Today was great don't you think?" The sarcasm was obvious in his voice and his expression was grim.

"I think Larry will eventually find us, the same way he found us at the restaurant." Phoenix replied, trying to get ready for the confrontation he knew was coming, "Let's just try to forget about him and all of this until he does, okay? We hardly get to spend time with each other, even when we're living together...I want to make the most of this..."

Miles parked into the driveway. "I guess we should try making more time to spend together." He wasn't going to deny that either of them weren't workaholics. "Although when you say it like that, you make it sound like one of us is leaving." But there's no way I could leave here again...at least not without Phoenix. Miles thought as he stepped out of the car.

"Don't say that..." Phoenix said, trying to sound like he was saying it lightheartedly, but he didn't even want to joke about the possibility of Miles ever leaving again.

Phoenix also got out of the car and impulsively grabbed Miles's hand as they made their way to the door.

Miles locked his car before smiling softly at Phoenix.

"Even if I wanted to leave I couldn't. You've become too important to me Phoenix." As he unlocked the front door, Pess's excited barks could be heard. "We should take him on a walk sometime soon," Miles thought out loud.

Miles's words comforted Phoenix slightly as they walked inside the house. Phoenix pet Pess as he always did when he came home but then he focused on Miles again when Miles shut and locked the door.

Phoenix walked up to Miles, took his hands in his own and said, "I really have missed you..."

Miles held onto Phoenix's hands tightly. "I've missed you too..." Hearing those words come from Phoenix's mouth always made him realize just how dumb it was to just disappear like that. But the past was the past and he'd be sure not to make the same mistake again.

Phoenix smiled softly, then he slowly got closer to Miles, putting his hands on Miles's shoulders, and he pulled him into a gentle kiss.

Maya had dragged them all back to the Wright and Co offices and was now lecturing Larry.

"Of course he wouldn't tell you if that was how you were going to react! Now we all ruined Nick's date with Mr. Edgeworth!" She couldn't blame just Larry on that incident as it was her fault to.

"How're we going to make it up to Mr. Nick?" Pearl asked worriedly.

Larry felt guilty the whole walk back to Phoenix's office, and even more so with Maya's lecturing.

"Yeah...we really should...I...didn't mean to yell like that...I just felt so left out, you know?" Larry said, looking and sounding very guilty.

Maya grabbed the phone and started dialing Mai's number hoping the other wasn't busy. "We'll plan the perfect date for Nick and Mr. Edgeworth!" Of course she would need help for this. I know nothing about romance even after I watched all those movies...oh wait those were romance comedies. Pearl had taken her place trying to see what Ema was writing in her notebook.

"Hello, Detective Wright speaking." Mai said as she picked up her phone.