The Deadbeat Club

(A/N: Sorry for the long absence, but I come bearing Fanfiction!

Yet another Pal sequel because apparently people liked it. I wrote it mainly to get back into the groove of crackfic writing after a long period of working on originally work. For those of you who requested pieces from me, I'm working on a couple right now, and hopefully I'll have them done as soon as school allows. There are minor 2-3 and 2-4 spoilers. The title comes from a B-52 song title…one that just won't leave my head when I think of Will and Gumshoe, so I decided to make use of it,

Challenge: write another sequel to 'Pal'.

Phoenix Wright and related characters are the property of Capcom…who are nice people and don't want to sue me.)

Will sighed as he hung up the embarrassingly cutesy bunny suit that had recently become his uniform. He almost preferred the Pink Princess ensemble; at least then he hadn't gotten so much flak from the other employees, but given that he was fairly intimidating appearance-wise and, at the time, he'd just been acquitted of murder charges might have had something to do with that.

Penny was probably the only person in the business who hadn't given him a hard time about his new job on that kid's exercise show. She understood that actor's had to eat and, given Will's looks and reputation, acting jobs were hard to find in this town.

A loud meow broke Will out of his morose contemplation of his lot in life. He looked over to the makeup counter that was the part of every dressing room, where Pal, his turtle-shell cat, currently lay. Will chuckled and walked over to pet his little buddy, glad that he'd still been allowed to keep his pet in the dressing room. Pal's low purring filled the room and Will smiled, before picking up his gym bag and tossing it over his shoulder. Pal let out a mew of surprise as Will scooped him up, and dug his claws into the thick material of Will's jacket. Will just laughed and walked out of the dressing room, waving to Penny as she was putting away some equipment. Normally Will would have stuck around and given her a hand or just stayed to talk but he actually had plans with a friend this evening, provided Detective Gumshoe wasn't called on a case unexpectedly like he had been recently.

Once he'd seated himself in the driver's side of his Jetta, Will winced as Pal had decided now was a good time to climb up into Will's hair. Sighing, Will now knew from experience dislodging the cat was more trouble than it was worth and just started up the car. A light rain started up as he left the studios, and progressed until Will was forced to squint through his windshield while trying to park. Luckily the lot by his modest apartment was fairly empty, so he could pull up without worrying about running into someone by accident. He did, however have to run for the cover of his complex and a sharp pain in his scalp told him that Pal was none too pleased with this development.

Will trudged up to his apartment, hair dripping and slightly matted. He wasn't surprised to see Gumshoe leaning up against the wall waiting for him, but he wasn't able to return the detective's grin, as Pal decided to dig his claws into Will's scalp again.

Gumshoe saw the pained expression on Will's face and looked to the taller man's hair, where a bedraggled black and orange face glared at him as though he was the source for its current predicament. The detective laughed. "Maybe that'll teach you to not stay in someone's hair, pal."

Will let out a pained chuckle as he quickly unlocked the door. "So no cases tonight detective?"

"Well, there's always something, pal, but most of it's pretty minor. The patrolman and other detectives can take care of the shop for a while. We haven't been as good as when we were under Chief Gant, but we're managing"

Will nodded, letting out a breath of relief as Pal quickly jumped off his shoulder and shook out on the carpet. "I remember hearing about that…he was blackmailing the Chief Prosecutor, right?"

"Yeah, it's still kind of hard to believe. I mean, the chief was tough, but I wouldn't have pegged him as a murderer."

Will smiled wryly as he ran a hand through his wet unruly mane of hair. "Yet you pegged me as one?"

Gumshoe rubbed the back of his head ruefully. "Well, you are kinda intimidating looking, pal. I didn't know you and we had witnesses and everything…"

Will chuckled and went to go pull a towel out of his closet, tossing his wet jacket on a shabby grey-blue chair on his way. "It's fine detective, I know I cut a pretty intimidating figure. Most of the job offers I got after the Pink Princess ended were for action movie villains."

"Really?"

Will furiously toweled his hair dry so his voice seemed to go in and out. "Yeah, really. But I just am not good at playing a bad guy. I did it a lot in college, but I was terrible at it. I was lucky the Steel Samurai was thrown my way actually. Well, except for the whole murder thing…"

Gumshoe took a seat on the overstuffed pale green couch and picked up Pal, absently petting him. "I hear ya, a guy's gotta eat after all. I've gotten my pay cut so low I can't pay the electric bill, but at least I can afford to eat."

Will grimaced at that. He'd heard about Gumshoe's near absent wage woes and honestly felt bad the minute he brought it up. He could at least afford to live comfortably. He decided a change of topic was in order as he set his damp towel down and went to go hang up his jacket. "So, what do you want to do tonight detective?"

Gumshoe looked down at Pal. "I dunno, pal, did you have something in mind?"

Will shrugged. "I was kind of thinking just hanging around here, but then I'm a bit of a homebody."

Gumshoe smiled. 'That's fine with me, Pal. I don't get many opportunities to just kick back in my job."

Will returned the smile and migrated into the kitchen, pulling out various pots and pans. "Alright, I just got this great Spanish recipe from a friend of mine, Juan Corrida."

Gumshoe looked back over the couch. 'I've heard of 'im! He's the Jammin' Ninja right?"

"Yeah, he's a good guy. We met at last years Hero of Heroes Grand Prix. He works for a rival studio, but he's a nice guy…if it weren't for his rivalry with Engaurde, the guy who plays the Nickel Samurai. I tell you, that's not going to end well for them."

Gumshoe nodded and rubbed a red welt on his neck. Will looked at it for a minute. "That's a pretty nasty welt there, Detective. What happened?"

Gumshoe snorted. "The new prosecutor happened, pal. She's a nightmare, I tell you. She carries a whip and beats on all of us cops when we're not fast enough. And I swear she's followin' me! I hear a beep and Bam! She's there with the whip in my face. She can't even remember my name, keeps callin' me Scruffy McTrencoat. She's got it out for Mr. Wright too, came all the way from Germany to duke it out with him. I think that's why she's so sharp, but honestly Manfred von Karma wasn't half this bad."

Will smiled sympathetically, as he'd heard a bit about the new prosecutor here and there, and began to heat up some ingredients. "Sounds tough. What about the guy who prosecuted my case? Mr.…. Edgeworth was it? I thought you worked mainly with him."

Gumshoe's expression grew glum. "He went missing sometime last year…nobody knows where he is."

He looked like he was going to add more, but his phone went off. Standing up so quickly Pal hit the ground with a thump and took off for his bed with a disparaging glance at the scruffy detective, gumshoe answered it and proceeded to have a very animated discussion in police jargon with whoever was on the other line. After he hung up Gumshoe turned and looked apologetically at Will.

"Sorry pal, but there's been a murder at the Big Berry Circus. I've got to go head up the investigation."

Will was disappointed, but years of acting helped him easily cover it up. He extended a hand "That's alright Detective, maybe next week then?"

Gumshoe took will's larger hand in a friendly handshake. "Looking forward to it, pal."

After the detective had made his hasty exit, Will sighed and looked over at Pal, who was still glaring at the door. "Well, looks like we'll have to find something for just the two of us doesn't it little buddy?"

(comments welcomed and appreciated.)