September 9th, 8:48 AM
Phoenix Wright's Apartment
"Morning, Boss!" rang Matty's voice, jolting Phoenix awake. She blinked and looked up to see Matty framed in the doorway.
"... This is 'morning' to you?" she groaned, dragging a pillow over her head.
"That's what we call it when the sun comes into view, yeah." Matty replied, a cheeky smile on his face. Phoenix only gave an annoyed grunt in response. "Fine. Not a morning lawyer, then." Matty said, turning back around. "I made you some coffee, just in case you were only half-awake." he called over his shoulder as he left.
Still holding a pillow over her head, Phoenix smiled to herself.
(He knows how to make a first impression, at least. Although, the "Boss" thing is gonna take some getting used to.)
She hesitantly swung her legs over the side of the bed and sat up. After crossing the room to shut the door, she changed into her usual blue suit.
Matty was sitting at the small kitchen table when Phoenix entered. She froze, staring in disbelief at the table. An alarmingly large stack of empty dishes sat in front of Matty on the table, which he was continuing to add to as he worked through what had to be his eleventh serving of breakfast. He gave her an odd look. "You're gonna wear a suit today, too? You're not even working today!" he said. He looked expectantly at Phoenix, waiting for a response.
"Are we just... not gonna talk about how you just ate everything in my entire fridge?" Phoenix asked, still staring incredulously at the table.
Matty paused, taking a brief glance at the dishes in front of him. "... Oh. Right." His eyes drifted for a few seconds as he struggled to think of a response. "Well... how d'you think you'd be doing after a few days of nothing but prison food?"
"... Point taken." Phoenix said, sitting down.
"Besides, you looked like you needed help cleaning out your fridge a bit." Matty added, earning an amused half-glare. He passed a cup of coffee to Phoenix before standing up to clear away his vast array of dishes.
"It's a shame you didn't have any burgers, though..." he muttered as he placed everything in the dishwasher. "I guess we can do that for lunch."
Phoenix rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her coffee. Several seconds of silence followed. "Before you settle into living here, I feel like I should ask," Phoenix finally interjected, "is this gonna be a regular thing? Y'know, you eating three times your own body weight in one morning alone?"
Matty glanced down in thought. "... You don't know my body weight."
Without another word, he left the room. Phoenix sighed.
(I'll just assume that's a yes, then.)
It wasn't until a few minutes later that Phoenix heard anything from Matty. She had just finished her coffee when the boy's voice sounded from another room.
"Whoa-!" he exclaimed. Phoenix leaned into the room and saw him rifling through a shelf of disc cases.
"Oh, those?"
"You really do want me to stay here, don't ya?" Matty said, grinning. "You didn't mention to me last night that you just happened to be sitting on a mountain of video games!"
"Just a hobby..." Phoenix muttered. She made to return to the kitchen, but Matty continued.
"Hey, video games are not something you make a hobby out of. They're a commitment."
(I get the feeling that this isn't an argument I want to be in.)
"Here's an idea. Why don't I just pretend that you wanted me to show you around the apartment?" Phoenix asked, crossing her arms and leaning against the doorframe.
"... 'Kay." Matty replied after a moment, apparently hesitant to change the subject.
"Well, come on, then." Phoenix said, beckoning to him as she left the room.
"You've already seen the kitchen and living room, so this is the guest room. I've never had to use it for anybody before, and I doubt I'll need to any time soon, so I guess it'll be your room once we get you a bed." Phoenix rambled as Matty paced around the small room.
"Who that with you in these pictures?" he asked, motioning toward a row of framed photos. "I can see Micah in one, but..."
"That's a friend of mine; Lexine Butz." Phoenix answered. She wasn't remotely surprised to see Matty suppressing a laugh at Lexine's surname. "You can laugh, everybody does."
Matty gladly obliged. Once he had calmed down, Phoenix continued, "I've known Lex since we were in elementary school, so I've got a lot of pictures with her."
Matty looked thoughtful. After a significant pause, he said, "That reminds me... You didn't answer me back in the courthouse. Y'know, when I asked you about Prosecutor Edgeworth?"
Phoenix looked down at the floor, turning away slightly. "I... knew Edgeworth in school, too. She's... changed, to say the least." she answered quietly.
"Yeah, she didn't seem like the nicest lady around." Matty said. "Anyway, what's left to see in here?"
"Nothing, really. You already tracked down my room, so there's not much else to say."
"Oh, that reminds me!" Matty suddenly cut in, darting past her and off toward her room.
"Hold it!" she shouted as he turned the corner. Matty looked back as she caught up with him.
"What?"
"Matty, you're not gonna tell me that you've made it through seventeen years of your life without figuring out that you're not supposed to go and barge into a woman's bedroom, are you?"
"I'm just proving that you don't need to wear a suit when you aren't working," he said with an 'obviously' sort of tone.
"And what if I told you that I happen to like wearing it?"
"Phoenix, you've worn a suit just like that for at least the last three days. You've gotta have somethin' else."
"You've been wearing those same robes the whole time, too." Phoenix said, beginning to have fun with the argument.
Matty put on an annoyed sort of pout. "Just take off the suit."
"Aren't we a little early in the relationship for that?" Phoenix joked, leaning back against the wall.
Matty's face flushed deeply red and he stared down at the floor. "Y-you know what I mean..."
Phoenix laughed lightly for a moment. "Alright, if it bothers you that much, I'll put on something else."
"... Thanks." Matty mumbled, walking back toward the living room.
"Of course, I'll need to take everything off for a shower first," Phoenix called over her shoulder.
Matty blushed again. "Now you're just being mean..."
Later on, Matty disappeared for several hours, returning to the apartment with a suitcase.
"I got all my stuff from home." he said as Phoenix opened the door.
"Good. You might as well drop everything in your room now, so we can go and get everything else before you organize it."
Matty chuckled, muttering, "Organize..." under his breath. He pushed past Phoenix and trudged off toward the now-empty guest room. Phoenix checked on him a few minutes later and found him pinning up a series of flashy posters, all with the same logo emblazoned on them.
"The... Steel Samurai?" she read, looking curiously at the crowded pictures on each poster.
"You bet!" Matty said brightly, adjusting the angle of one of them.
"Isn't that show targeted at people about half your age?
"Hey!" Matty said indignantly, pointing a finger at Phoenix. "You telling me you've never heard of a periphery demographic?"
"Uh..."
"You and all your video games, maybe?"
"I-... You win." Phoenix said, holding her hands up.
"Thought so. The Steel Samurai's great, and anybody who says he isn't is lying."
"This is a... pretty serious topic with you, isn't it?"
Matty paused. "It's not just me..." he grumbled quietly.
Phoenix, thinking it best to drop the subject, left Matty to finish arranging his belongings and returned to her own room. She sat down and glanced around, boredom beginning to set in. Her eyes lingered on her cell phone.
"Hey, Phoenix. What's goin' on?" Lexine's voice asked.
"Not a lot right now, Lex. There're just some things I need to tell you about." Phoenix replied.
"'Kay. You had any other trials lately or something?
"There was... one." Phoenix paused, taking a deep breath to steady her voice. "My boss, Micah, was murdered a few days ago."
"WHAT!?" Lexine practically screamed. "Why didn't you call me about it sooner!?"
"I... didn't really have time to. I was busy the whole time, investigating. And then I was arrested, and-"
Lexine really did scream did time. Phoenix held the phone away from her ear as her friend's voice shrilly rang, "WHAAAAT!?"
"You- they threw you in jail!? Why didn't you tell me that!?"
"S-sorry, Lex. Like I said, there wasn't really a lot of time to-"
"I'm comin' over right now, and we're talking about this the right way."
"Wait, Lex-!"
-click-
Phoenix sighed, setting her phone down. "Matty?" she called out.
"Yeah?"
"You know my friend Lexine, from the pictures you asked me about?"
"Yeah?"
"She's gonna be coming over here pretty soon."
"Oh. OK, I'll just finish up with my stuff so I can meet her!"
Lexine, as it turned out, reached the apartment in a remarkably short time.
"Hey, Phoenix!" she said as soon as the door was open. She grabbed her friend in a hug, but froze when she saw Matty standing a few feet behind Phoenix. "Who'zat?" she asked, staring at him.
"Er, hi, I'm Matty." he offered nervously. Lexine backed up a step, staring at Phoenix now.
"Phoenix," she began, a hint of caution in her voice, "is there somethin' else you gotta tell me? Like, why you've got a kid in your apartment?"
"Of the two thousand ideas that are probably running through your head right now, Lex, I doubt any of them are even close to correct." Phoenix said embarrassedly.
"Huh. In that case, I bet I'm in for a hell of a story." Lexine said, relaxing with a grin.
"You could say that." Matty said as Phoenix moved aside for Lexine to enter.
The trio sat in the living room as Phoenix set into her explanation of the trial's events. Lexine would, every so often, interrupt to ask a question or simply to express a reaction.
"Edgeworth?" she repeated in shock on one such occasion. "No shit? Merle Edgeworth?
"Lex, have I ever been a good liar?"
"... Nah, you've got a point there." Lexine admitted. "Still, Merle... that's just nuts."
Both women were silent for a few seconds. Matty glanced back and forth between them. Both appeared to be deep in thought, and the silence was beginning to grate on his nerves.
"As much as I hate to interrupt this riveting silence," he finally exclaimed, "I'm still the only one out of the loop here about how you two know Edgeworth."
"Huh-?" Phoenix and Lexine both absentmindedly grunted.
"O-oh, right. Sorry about that, Matty." Phoenix said, giving an apologetic smile. "Like I told you before, we met Edgeworth in school. We were all in the same fourth grade class. It's... not something I really want to talk about." Her face fell as she ended her brief explanation. Matty watched her for a moment before setting a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey. It's alright. If you don't wanna talk about it, it's fine. I don't need to know that badly." he said.
"... Thanks, Matty." Phoenix said quietly.
"Aww," Lexine teasingly cooed, "you two are friggin' adorable." Phoenix gave her a half-hearted glare as she gave an exaggerated swoon. "Anyway, back to the story?" she suddenly barked, her demeanour returning to normal in an instant.
"Right..."
Phoenix resumed her long-winded explanation, Matty cutting in occasionally to emphasize his own role. Nearing the end of the story, Phoenix's mood seemed to degrade, leaving her voice discouraged and toneless.
"So..." Lexine started after Phoenix finally finished, "you're telling me that this nasty lady did all that shit to Matty's family, and then tried to throw you under the bus, too?"
"That sums it up pretty well." Matty answered first.
"Not cool..." Lexine said, still in disbelief. "Well, anyway, Phoenix is too good at her job to let that happen, obviously." she added, giving her friend an encouraging grin.
"And I think she's got a pretty fantastic assistaaaant~" Matty chimed, nudging Phoenix with an elbow.
"... Thanks." Phoenix said yet again. She straightened up. "You're both right. I shouldn't be beating myself up over it anyway; we won, after all."
"That's the way, Boss." Matty said with a bright smile.
From there, they broke into a casual conversation that ran through numerous topics. Eventually, Lexine glanced toward the clock.
"I guess I should get outta here." she said, standing up. "You probably have some stuff to do, since you just moved in, right, Matty?"
"Yeah." Matty answered, nodding. He and Phoenix stood up as well, following Lexine to the door. She gave a farewell and stepped out into the hallway before stopping.
With a sly grin on her face, she added, "Course, you two might also have a few other things to do, right? More... personal things?"
"Lex..." Phoenix warned.
"Alright, alright. It's none of my business, after all." she said, setting a hand on the door. Just before closing it, however, she chided, "But really, Phoenix, a minor?"
Phoenix aimed a slap at her, which she dodged with a laugh. Starting down the hall, she called back, "Watch it on the first date, OK, Matty?"
"You're a terrible person!" Phoenix called, still annoyed.
"Love you, too!" Lexine shouted back as she disappeared into the stairwell.
Matty laughed. "Is that how you two always say goodbye?" he asked.
"... Usually." Phoenix admitted, a smile showing through her attempted frown. Matty closed the door, and the two walked back to the living room. Halfway there, he added, "Now, 'bout that first date..."
"Do I need to slap you, too?" Phoenix asked, giving her best effort to hold in her laughter.
"Only if I get to hit back." Matty said coyly. They sat back down on the couch, and he gave a shrug. "I guess Lex is right, though."
"About what?"
"Why would I wanna date an old lady like you, anyway?"
-smack-
Insert drivel about my work ethic and some excuse here.
Now that we've had a quick break for some character building, we'll be jumping into our next case. 'Course, you know what that means.