#i especially love the “mr edgeworth took leave so we can have fun”

[gumdefense]

They truly got the aai trio dynamics down to a point

Edit: this post is months old but I can’t believe I forgot, here’s a direct link to the plays (with subtitles provided by Rayne :D, edgeworthlez, Grace rivalsforlife, and PinkPurpleBlus)

#i especially love the “mr edgeworth took leave so we can have fun” #they’re like kids who turn on the playstation the second mom leaves #ace attorney #aa stage plays #aai #miles edgeworth #dick gumshoe #kay faraday #not described #general my post tag #and in case the part where gumshoe is explaining the village’s history is confusing: it’s how he gets in narrator mode to entertain Kay #(and how he looks like he 100% knew mentioning a treasure would get a reaction out of her) #normally (in other plays) when he explains a case or smth he kind of just tells it matter-of-factly

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

I think this is nominally incomplete, but it’s from October and I’m never going to finish it, but I reread it and still enjoy some of the jokes in it so.... I figured other people might get some enjoyment out of it.

Summary: Some defense attorneys, prosecutors, and detectives get together and while drinking make poor conversational choices that vacillate wildly between commiserating over personal trauma and making bad jokes. So, the usual.

-

“You know,” Kay says, frowning in concentration as she attempts to affix a fourth paper umbrella in her hair, “what always bums me out about these big get-togethers is I always start thinking we should play some super-fun drinking games and then I realize that would be terrible, because, like, ‘Never Have I Ever’ always turns into weird sexscepade confessions and that’d be horrible enough if Mr. Edgeworth was just our boss, but he’s like, our dad, so we can’t do that.”

Everyone takes twenty seconds to absorb what she has said. “There are things I don’t want to know about any of you,” Apollo says. “Especially not Mr. Wright.”

“Because he’s our dad,” Athena adds. She is lying on the floor with her chin propped up on her arms. “Also it’d be mean to play drinking games with me here not being able to.” Her glare turns from Phoenix to Simon. “American drinking laws are stupid.”

“You say to a room full of prosecutors and detectives,” Apollo says.

“No no, she’s right,” Klavier says. “I got my badge in Europe and then came back and they would let me stand in court and prosecute a trial but not buy a beer.”

“Franziska complained all the time about that,” Edgeworth says, with a small smile that is almost fond as he contemplates the dregs at the bottom of his wine glass. “In the interest of full disclosure, she complained about everything in America. She still does, actually.”

“I can see why she would,” Athena says. “I liked Germany. I didn’t actually drink a lot there, though.”

“You are smarter than I,” Klavier says. “I lost about a month somewhere in Germany.”

Phoenix coughs and sets down his glass, which is pint-sized but filled with wine. The only condolence for Apollo, and from the expression on his face, Edgeworth as well, is that he isn’t drinking straight from a bottle. “A month?” he repeats incredulously.

Klavier nods. “I had just taken the bar; I had nothing to do but wait for my results. What else was I supposed to do?”

“Not that?” Phoenix asks. He looks somewhere between impressed and horrified, which is strange for Apollo to realize; he can’t usually read his boss’ emotions from his face. “Anything but that?”

Klavier shrugs. “Ja ja, but I never got arrested or woke up anywhere unfamiliar, so I think I did fine.”

“Did you wake up with that horrible accent, though?” Blackquill asks, smirking slightly, and without looking bats Athena’s hand away from his drink.

“Ooh!” Athena says, pushing herself up into a sitting position. “You know, that’s actually happened! There’s been cases where after a traumatic brain injury, a person has recovered to speak with an entirely different accent that they never had before. So you could have--”

“I’m sorry to dampen your excitement, Fraulien, but I have never had any traumatic brain injuries.” Ema mutters something and Klavier, staring at the glass in his hands, says, “Ach, we’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, and I will amend my statement to ‘not that I know’ because Kris could have dropped me down the stairs when we were young and I can never know for sure now, because what I am sure of is that even if the answer is no, if I asked him now, he would say he did.”

“You know, Kay, that this is realistically where ‘Never Have I Ever’ would end up,” Ema says. “The personal trauma shit, like ‘never have I ever had someone close to me turn out to be a murdering bastard.’” She doesn’t meet anyone’s eyes and instead stares at the floor. “Ah shit I can’t even say that. That one’s happened to me too. Fuck it.” She throws her head back and drains a third of her glass.

“Would that be a shot for each murdering bastard, or just one for all of them?” Klavier asks.

“At that point you just start drinking and don’t stop,” Phoenix says without lowering his glass from his lips, apparently taking his own advice.

“Define ‘close’,” Apollo says.

“We’re lawyers,” Sebastian says. “Why don’t we just all argue about the definition and never get anywhere with it?”

“He was your boss,” Klavier says brusquely. “That’s fuckin’ close enough.” The harshness of the words doesn’t match the way Klavier’s weight leans against Apollo’s shoulder or how his hand shakes just slightly, knuckles too white curled around his shot glass.

“Is ‘close’ in this case simply to be understood as figuratively referring to emotional connection,” Blackquill says, “or would a literal meaning as in physical proximity at length apply as well?”

“When you’re splitting hairs like that just join the rest of us in being drunk and depressed,” Ema says.

“Are we actually playing now?” Kay asks. “Because this is like a super fucked up way to play if we are.”

“Let’s not even bother with the ‘never have I ever had someone I loved be murdered’,” Apollo says. He hadn’t wanted to get drunk tonight, and instead just sit back and watch whatever unfolded, but he’s thinking he might want to change those plans.

“Everyone loses on that one,” Kay says, reaching over and gently patting Apollo’s head, which he thinks is a gesture of sympathy as best as she, pink-cheeked with unfocused eyes, can manage. And he thinks he is just tipsy enough that it actually feels like a comfort. “And the grand prize, ‘never have I ever had someone I loved be murdered by someone I was close to’, because that’s like… aw shit that’s me isn’t it.”

“Depending on how you define your proximity to Ms. Yew, or Shih-na, or whatever you should like to call her,” Edgeworth says, and it’s probably not coincidence that he is now finishing off his wine, after Kay has said those words. Everyone knows the story of von Karma.

“Again,” Blackquill says, his chin resting on his hands, his elbows on his knees, “how are we agreeing to define ‘close’ and does it apply retroactively, in that they only came in close literal proximity to you long after they committed the murder of that particular--” This time he is not quick enough to stop Athena from snatching away his glass and draining the contents.

“Gross!” Widget cries, and Athena sets the glass back in front of Blackquill with an expression of profound disgust twisting her features. “What the hell is that, anyway?” she asks.

“You were duly warned,” Blackquill replies.

“No,” Athena says. “You told me it was illegal, not that it was disgusting.”

Phoenix is laughing at her, his glass untouched on the floor for the past minute. Kay raises an eyebrow. “What, the unluckiest man in the world can’t drink to that?”

“I can’t, actually,” he says, “though not for lack of trying on my ex-girlfriend’s part.”

“Is trauma crossing over with sexscepades now?” Ema asks. “I’m gonna need to be super more drunk if it is.”

“Me too,” Apollo says, staring at the empty glass in front of him. He hadn’t wanted to refill. Now he thinks he needs it. Klavier offers him the remains of his drink. Apollo accepts it.

“It was not a… a…” Phoenix props his chin up on his hands. “Well, depends on how you’re defining it, and whether ‘my college girlfriend was actually twins, one of whom was evil and wanted me dead and tried to frame me for murder when her good twin, who’s a sweetheart other than having a dire blind spot where her sister is concerned, spent eight months trying to convince her not to kill me’ counts as such.”

“Wait,” Ema says, reaching for Kay’s drink, as Edgeworth stands and leaves the room, “you were dating both twins, and you thought they were the same person?”

“They fully intended to convince me they were the same person,” Phoenix says. “And it took me six years and an attempt on my best friend’s life to find out otherwise.”

“Why’d she -- they -- whoever -- try to kill Edgeworth?” Sebastian asks.

Phoenix coughs. “Erm -- my other best friend, Maya. It’s a long fucked-up story that’s incoherent enough when I try to tell it sober but it ended with me cross-examining a dead woman and the prosecution indicted on the murder charges that had been leveled against my client.”

“What,” Athena says.

“I was there and can corroborate,” Edgeworth says, reentering with a new glass of wine.

“Wait,” Klavier says. “When was this?”

“It’s…” Phoenix frowns, staring at Edgeworth. “It was February, so… nine years now.”

“Was that prosecutor Coffee Dude?” Klavier asks.

“Coffee dude?” Apollo repeats. Klavier’s accent has been slipping in and out all night but hearing him utter the word dude is still absolutely jarring.

“Eloquent as ever, Gavin-dono,” Blackquill says dryly.

“I don’t remember his name because I was a self-absorbed piece of shit who’d just joined the office but: Eine, I remember the news article, and Zwei, I remember him taking the pot out of the coffee machine in the break room and drinking directly from the pot.”

“Oh yeah that’d be him,” Phoenix says.

Blackquill frowns. “This prosecutor you speak of -- about my height, white hair, blind, and able to be convinced to punch another inmate for the price of half a cup of sludgewater prison coffee?”

“Oh my god,” Phoenix says.

“Simon,” Athena sighs.

“I did not say that it was I who convinced him to do such. For all you know I may have been the victim of the punching. You assume the worst of me, Athena.”

Apollo snorts at that. Phoenix is rolling his eyes and Edgeworth coughs.

“You met him in prison?” Edgeworth asks, sitting back down next to Phoenix. “I suppose you must have, if you know him, because he was arrested in February and you joined the office in -- May?”

“April,” Athena corrects.

“Right when everything went to shit,” Klavier says.

“In February a prosecutor was arraigned on charges of murder; in March, another prosecutor committed murder in the office, and the chairman of the Investigatorial Committee was convicted on counts of murder and forging evidence since he was Chief Prosecutor -- you forget, again, that in no point in our lifetimes has ours been a functioning legal system.”

Something about the way Blackquill says it, and the way that Klavier responds with “Bleh,” makes Apollo think it’s a conversation they’ve had before.

Sebastian is staring at his hands.

“And that’s when Mr. Edgeworth gave up his badge for two days and I fell off a building and got amnesia,” Kay adds. “And then we caused another international incident. Not totally in that order.”

“What,” Apollo says.

“Oh god I remember half of that,” Ema says.

“You left out the part with the assassins,” Sebastian says.

“I’ve always believed if you’re not in court it’s sometimes better to leave out details in the retellings, and nothing here is dissuading me of this notion,” Phoenix says.

“So what did you leave out of your little sexscepade story?” Kay asks

“Kay,” Sebastian says, “I am begging you to stop saying that word. I will pay you.”

“Hey Chief, I think that’s Prosecutor Debeste saying I should get a salary raise.”

Edgeworth places his face in his hands.

“I left out the part where I fell off a bridge, my murderous ex-girlfriend was my best friend’s cousin, and Edgeworth --”

“Continue leaving out any further part of this involving me,” Edgeworth interrupts.

“Fine.”

“Boss, how are you still alive?” Athena asks.

“That’s a case that’s going to go forever unsolved,” Phoenix replies.

“Can we do ‘never have I ever had a near-death experience’?” Athena says. “Or any significant physical injury on the job. How many shots would you have to take for that one, Boss?” Phoenix is muttering under his breath as he starts counting on his fingers. Apollo can’t make out the words but Athena almost immediately objects -- “Wait, did you say tazed?”

“Tazed, blunt force head trauma from a fire extinguisher, fell off a bridge, that one thing from before I was a lawyer doesn’t count because you said ‘on the job’, hit by a car doesn’t really count under that definition either -- I think that’s it.” He stares absently into space. “Actually, no, it was sort of related to the job so in hindsight, add ‘getting smashed with the man who got me disbarred’.”

“Take another shot for tonight, then,” Klavier says.

Phoenix rolls his eyes. “Klavier, shut up,” he says, and Klavier recoils in surprise, blinking a few times. “I mean the one with ill intentions and a penchant for poisoning people. God there’s so many ways that could’ve ended with me dead over a bowl of borscht in that hell restaurant.” His eyes go unfocused staring at some point over Apollo’s head. “You know what’s another one of the super fucked up parts about that?” He doesn’t wait for anyone to ask before he continues, “I don’t even like borscht.”

Klavier coughs, or at least Apollo thinks it’s a cough, but it also sounds like a laugh and a sob intermingled.

“You exasperate me,” Edgeworth says to Phoenix. Phoenix flops over into his lap like a particularly boneless cat.

“Here’s ‘take a shot if your older sibling is or has ever been in jail,” Ema says dryly, emptying her glass and then laying backwards on the floor. “Welcome to the shit club, boys.”

“I think Herr Samurai and I need more alcohol for this one,” Klavier says.

“Then go get us some,” Blackquill says.

“Sometimes I feel like I am the only one doing the work in this relationship,” Klavier says.

Athena chokes on air.

Edgeworth sighs. “You both know what I am going to say.”

The response comes in near-unison from the three other prosecutors and two detectives. “Dollar in the jar!”

#roddy fanfics #ace attorney bullshit tag #i've been trying to get writing again after spending the past week with schoolwork and some of that was just me looking at old stuff #and then i found this......absolute disaster of a fic #i think the catalyst for this was me realizing how many traumas everyone broad-strokes has in common #and deciding that they should discuss it but with the worst framing device being a game of 'never have i ever' #so i wrote it because when you're a writer you can do whatever you want

[crackmadhi]

Underneath it All

Tuesday, 2 January 2029

It was nice being back in the states. Apollo had gotten the possibility to stay here for three weeks and he was enjoying his time off. It was fun being with the Wrights and Athena. Even if he missed Nahyuta and Rayfa quite a bit.

Right now, he sat on the couch, while scrolling through his phone and Athena and Trucy played chess on the kitchen table. The chess set had been a gift from Edgeworth for Trucy and she loved it to the bits. Apollo could not blame her, it was pretty, and custom made. Also, the pieces were blue and red, which were her favourite colours.

“Nooo!”, Athena cried losing the third time in a row.

Widget turned blue and he had to pull himself together to not make a snarky remark. Then suddenly he felt his bracelet tighten. Confused he looked at it and sat up properly. Mr. Wright had entered the room.

He looked gloomy and slowly wandered over to the table. Trucy put the chess board aside and Apollo saw Athena holding her hand over her right ear. So, there was discord in his voice. No news to the lawyer in red, but this was even extreme for him.

“Apollo, would you please come to the table? I need to tell you and Trucy something very important”, the man exclaimed with a voice devoid of emotion.

Apollo got nervous. His bracelet was tightening because Phoenix displayed no ticks whatsoever and he had the impression that Athena could not really identify the emotion’s in his heart as well, since she frowned deeply and made a worried huff.

Suspiciously he got up and sat down in front of Mr. Wright. Apollo felt Trucy next to him getting smaller and exchanged a look with Athena. This was bad.

“Daddy, what is it? What is going on?”, the girl asked worriedly, and he shot the man across the table a testing look.

Apollo was no longer a clueless apprentice, no longer somebody you could take on that easily. He had learnt over the years and his time in Khura’in had taught him to fight with every means he could access. If Phoenix was going to act stupid, Apollo would fight him. That much was sure.

At once Phoenix put on a smile and laid down flyer. Apollo wrinkled his forehead and looked at it. Lamiroir. She would give several concerts in the States. In the next few weeks, even some in LA. What had that to do with anything?

“I’m sorry but I don’t follow? Would you stop being so obscure? Why would you show us this flyer?”, he said to him.

“I was sent three tickets for her next show. I thought you might want to go there with Trucy and Athena…”

“Why won’t you go yourself, and did Lamiroir send you these?”

He nodded simply and lowered his gaze to the table.

“Why are things always so complicated, when it is about that woman? And why do you even talk to her? What kind of connection do you two have? This makes no sense at all, Mr. Wright.”

He tried to open his mouth, but Apollo cut him off right away: “Don’t dare to talk in riddles anymore. Just get us straight answers for once in our life. That would be nice for a change.”

At that Phoenix paused. For a short second a light flickered in his eyes. Then he took a deep breath and put on an old smile. His eyelids were slightly lowered, and the brows lay right above his eyes.

“I should do so much, shouldn’t I?”, the older lawyer chuckled and laid one hand on his knee, while putting the other softly on the table.

“I have failed. In being honest with the two of you, Apollo, Trucy. I’ve known something for a rather long time and did not tell you, because Lamiroir asked me not to tell you.”

He let out a dry laugh and turned to the side. His voice had become hollow.

“At least it is what I told myself long enough. Really, I had no right to keep this from you. You were old and strong enough to know and to understand… … When Lamiroir got her memory back, she called me. What she remembered was… She used to have a very different life. … As the woman of a traveling musician who tragically died in a fire in which she also lost her son. That was in Khura’in.”

Apollo sat straight in his chair. His eyes were open wide, and his left arm was shivering. This could not be happening. This was not how things went. This was not what he wanted to hear.

To his horror Phoenix continued. With empty eyes he looked to his daughter and added: “She went back to where she had been raised. Took back her maiden name and eventually married another under her father’s growing badgering. This time her husband took her name on the stage. … And she remained Thalassa Gramarye until she lost her memory during an accident in their rehearsal.”

The magician’s chair fell to the ground. Her hands were pressed on her mouth as she stood in front of the table and glared at her father with so much anger and disappointment in her posture that Athena wished she could have her headphones back.

Apollo on the other hand was frozen to stone. The shivering had abruptly stopped, and his breathing got slower and slower. His eyes had lost focus and he was staring beyond the walls behind Phoenix.

There were no words to describe what he felt. Betrayal, rage, defeat. He had felt them all. More than once at the same time. But neither of them managed to capture what this was right now. Maybe because nothing really fit.

Maybe because he was just exhausted.

But what had Apollo expected from a man who had him present forged evidence in court at his first trial?

“Why!?!”

Apollo flinched and stared at his sister. The usually so sweet and kind girl had screeched, clenched her hands and hot tears were rolling over her from fury deformed face. Athena was even shivering from the sound of her voice and Phoenix defensive smile suddenly was wiped away from his face.

“Why would you do this”, the girl continued swinging her hands away from her chest and forcing her voice to be as loud and violent as it was possible for her, “after everything?! Why did you have to LIE? You knew this for so long and kept it from us? You kept my own brother from me? I don’t understand this! I - I can’t believe it! It was you and I for seven years, us against everything! No lies, no secrets! You promised me that you would not keep stuff from me! Not like everybody else did! You promised! And- And now this!? Now you let us know that we are siblings and our mother is alive? Now?! Not before you left the country to your almost death trip to Khura’in? Not after I had been KIDNAPPED and Apollo’s best friend had been MURDERED!?”

The air was thick and heavy. For a second everything stopped. The daughter needed an answer and there were so many to give. Too many for Phoenix to formulate at that moment. Especially, since his throat was now dry and his will to defend himself had been long gone.

Slowly, Trucy realized that she was not getting anything from her father and let her arms fall down and her shoulders drop. Her bottom lip wavered, and a small sob escaped her mouth. With angry eyes she turned away, Apollo stood up next to her and laid his hand on her upper back. At least she was not alone.

“I hate you for this.”

Phoenix eyes were closed. He nodded. Apollo shook his head and lead his sister away from the table. He had to get himself and her out of this place. Away from Phoenix.

In complete shock Athena watched Apollo walk away and stared back at Phoenix. The man did nothing to stop them. No fighting, no trying to defend himself. Instead he let his daughter just walk away after she had declared her hater for him. He even nodded.

Athena’s hands tingled, her heart speeded up as her boss looked at her. A loud noise emerged through the room. Apollo had shut the door. Phoenix simply huffed.

“You have all the right to stand up and leave as well, Athena”, the man said with a broken grin.

Athena stayed still. There was too much discord to leave now. She stared to fear for the man’s sanity.

Carefully she watched him lean back in his chair and cross his arms loosely in front of his chest. His face was turned to the side, no muscle moving at all. It looked like this miserably smiling expression was carved into his face.

The noise from his heart became louder and under this growing buzzing Athena’s ears began to ring. Her breath fluttered under the pain but there was no way, she was to leave him now. Not like this.

“You must think I am horrible, and I deserve that… … but would you do me a favour?”

Athena only stared at him.

“Go after them. Not to tell them that they should come back or forgive me. Just… look after them, if you think that’s the right thing to do. They might need somebody like you who’s able to listen and they can trust. They deserve that.”

Athena hesitated. Phoenix wanted her gone. He wanted to be alone. Inside her guts she felt a sting that told her not to leave under any circumstances. That her boss was capable of doing something incredibly stupid right now.

…

But he would not talk to her. And Apollo and Trucy truly could need her help. To them she could talk, and they might actually listen to her advice.

With a heavy heart she swallowed and asked Phoenix: “If I leave, what will you do?”

The muscles on his arms shortly tensed up but relaxed just as fast. He did not meet her gaze as he answered: “I will… …take some time to… …digest this.”

“Mr. Wright”

Her words hang dooming in the air.

“You won’t do something to yourself, will you?”

Phoenix expression changed. A slight tremble run over the man’s lips and his eyes fully opened. Shocked he looked at his employer, as if she had just said something that nobody had ever openly told him.

He gulped, thought about forcing a smile but let it be. Instead he decided that this was a sign. That there were still things to be done and that he still had to stick around. There were people that deserved answers. He would provide them.

So, he raised his voice and told the young woman without a trace of discord in his voice: “I won’t.”

Even though Athena heard his sincerity, she still doubted him. But there was nothing for her to do. It led her to stand up and nod at her boss. He faintly smiled at her gesture and raised from his chair as well. Swiftly he walked around the table and accompanied Athena to the door. There he took a crumpled paper out of his sweatpants’ pocket and handed it to her.

Athena raised her eyebrows in question and shot the man a look. He huffed tiredly and explained: “Thalassa’s in town. It’s her address. If they want, they can go and talk to her. She knows that I’ve told them today and hopes for an answer.”

He laid a hand on Athena’s and let out a deep breath.

“But you don’t have to tell them that. Mention that you have it, if you think it’s right or just give it to them, if they want to meet her. I trust you will do the right thing for them”, he added and reached for her jacket on the clothing rack.

With a slow motion he handed her the garment and she put the small paper in the jacket pocket. A last time Athena shot her boss a worried look. She did not trust him to be on his own, even if it had never been a problem before. But then again, he hadn't lied when he had promised her that he would do nothing to himself, and so Athena let it go and left her boss alone with a brave wave.

She did not turn back to see the proud and grateful look on the elder’s eyes. Which was good for the other, since it would have motivated her to stay with Phoenix. And that was not what the turnabout terror needed right now.

Link to the fanfiction:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/17822882/chapters/42051413

#ace attorney #aa #ace attorney fanfiction #apollo justice #trucy wright #phoenix wright #athena cykes #thalassa gramarye #sibling reveal! #post aa6 #it was about time that they find out #this has already 4 chapters #so check it out #i hope you like it #my work

[aquilamage]

Finally got the first segment of this fic to a point where I’m pretty satisfied! It’s pretty much buildup to the main focus of the story (which is basically gonna be a fake relationship fic), but it was really fun still. Putting up what i have so far to kind of celebrate

Kay swung one leg as she watched down the street from her perch. The afternoon sun had nicely warmed the brick of the wall, making the wait easier to bear, what with the occasional mid-spring breezes coming through. It was beginning to border on late, but she was relaxed as ever.

It was just as she had gotten distracted enough to start cooing at a bird that had landed a few feet from her that someone called out her name.

Ignoring the stares of passerby, Kay leaped down onto the sidewalk (with only the slightest flourish). To be almost immediately barreled into and caught up in a hug.

“Kay!” Loosening her grip enough to tilt her head up, Maya beamed at her. “It’s been way too long.”

She pouted. “Says the one who spent the last two months in a remote village that has no service and one phone.”

Maya scoffed, shoving her away and crossing her arms. “Says the one who’s out of the country like a third of the time.”

“Well, I’m here now, aren’t I?”

“Yeah…” Despite herself, she couldn’t help but smile a bit. “Now come on!” Taking her arm, she started dragging her off. “We’ve got things to talk about.”

She only dropped her grip when Kay started giggling as they entered a nearby restaurant. “What?”

Kay only smirked, raising her eyebrows.

“Look, I have been back for a day,” she said as she made her way to the counter without bothering to make sure she was being followed. “and it is impossible to get a decent burger in Kurain. On top of everything else I’ve been dealing with, I definitely deserve to get something good for myself.”

“Things still not going so well?”

A tiny smile. “Actually…” She clasped her hands together in front of herself. “Things are finally coming together! They’ve only just put the council system in place, and I’m probably going to have to be there to “supervise” so they can feel comfortable doing it, but…” Maya took a deep breath. “If everything works out, it’ll probably be five months, tops, before I can leave for good.”

Kay let out a shriek before remembering where she was and slapping her hands over her mouth. Bouncing up and down, she pulled Maya into a hug. “That’s amazing! I’m so happy for you!”

“Thanks. Oh, it’s our turn to order.”

When they stepped away from the counter, Kay threw her another grin. “Seriously, that’s awesome. And now that you have an actual end in sight,” she said, recalling a number of conversations they had had over the years, “that means we can actually talk about plans for after without it being too sad. Right?”

She wrapped her arms around herself, head resting on one shoulder. “Yeah. But that’s going to be a whole big thing, so save that for later.” Maya poked her in the side. “How about you? What’ve you been up to without me to entertain you?

“Eh, not too much. School, mostly, since I got back from the last trip, and the investigation was actually pretty normal this time.” Kay played with her scarf. Then she paused, the beginnings of a grin forming. “Oh. Want to see the candids of Mr. Edgeworth I took on my last trip?”

She turned to look almost immediately. “Yes.”

Pulling up the album on her phone, she handed it over before heading over to the counter to pick up their food. “There’s only a couple from this time, but they’re still pretty good. Haven’t had time to put them in the Edgeworth album so they’re still in with the other stuff from that trip but help yourself.”

By the time Kay got over with their trays, Maya was sprawled out over her side of the table, the occasional giggle coming out as she clutched the phone. She only responded once nudged with the edge of her tray, drawing herself up and pulling the food towards her. Through her first mouthful, she held up the phone and asked, “What is he doing in this one?”

“Oh yeah.” Kay had to take a second to compose herself before answering. “He had gotten the in-flight internet to watch that stream Global Studios had announced, and he was getting so upset about the fact that they were just talking about remastering the original Steel Samurai when they had hyped it up like there was actually going to be something new. So I took some pictures of him from across the aisle.”

“Nice.” She remembered being disappointed that she was going to be in Kurain at the time, and had pestered Nick until he promised to check what it was about for her. When she’d read his letter about it she’d been pretty disappointed too.

There were a few moments of quiet where they both sat eating. Then, Maya practically choked on her drink. Coughing, she turned the phone so they both could see it. “Is this what I think it is?”

“Uh huh! My pride and joy.” She took a triumphant bite of one of her fries. “We were going to have breakfast together but I got up a bit later and saw him already down there. So I did what any reasonable person would and hid behind one of the plants with the zoom on. His fault, really, for eating something he’d have to take big bites into and potentially get bits of on his face.” The smile faded as she winced and continued. “I did, however, forget that I had the sound left on. So…”

Reaching over, she slid through the next few photos. Miles Edgeworth, seated at a table, looking rather outraged and only starting to turn in the camera’s direction. One of him standing up, closer but slightly out of focus and obscured by leaves. And then a series of very blurry pictures of a red figure, clearly taken over her shoulder in selfie mode.

“Fortunately, I managed to lock my phone before he caught up to me, but I did spend the rest of the morning in my room until he cooled down. Had to get Sebastian to sneak me food and everything.” She sighed fondly.

“It sounds like you guys have a lot of fun.” The wistful tone in Maya’s voice was impossible to miss, especially given the way she was picking at her food now.

Kay sat twisting her hands together. She knew where this was coming from, had heard the twinge of jealousy in her friend’s tone enough times when she discussed her own life to recognize it in an instant.

She didn’t know everything about Maya’s past, but over the couple of years since they had met, she had quickly learned that they had both experienced their share of recent loss and hardships. The difference between them during that time in many ways was due to their connections. Kay had Mr. Edgeworth and Sebastian and Franziska and Gummy and Uncle Badd, who she all saw on a semi-regular basis. On the other hand, Maya’s only solid connection in Kurain was her cousin, who she was enough of an older sibling/caregiver to already that talking about her problems with her as an equal was practically impossible. And outside of that, the only friend of hers Kay knew of was Mr. Wright, and during their previous meeting Maya had confided that she could tell he was struggling more, and seemed to only be pushing her further and further away, but wouldn’t talk about what was going on.

“You could come next time, if you want.”

Maya puffed out her cheeks, frowning as she dropped her chin in her hands. “I don’t see how much help I’d be,” she muttered. “I’m not a lawyer or a detective or anything useful.”

The chord of absolute resignation Kay could hear in her voice pained her to hear, and she rushed to reassure her. “Neither am I. Well, yet,” she added, more quietly. “But you can keep me company while we help investigate!”

“I guess.” She was tracing patterns on the table with the rings of water from their glasses. “You decided on detective, then?”

Oh, good, looked like she was getting distracted from spiraling, and she wasn’t disagreeing with her suggestion any more. Still, Kay made a mental note to bother Franziska about asking her to help next time she was in the country with something as well. “Ehh, no. I don’t know. I still like the idea of being security consultant for investigations too. Then I can really put my skills as a Great Thief to use!”

Maya laughed. After a moment, she pulled herself back into sitting up. A much happier, if still in the neutral territory, expression was on her face as she dug back into her meal. “Speaking of, I should really tell you about the main reason I called you here.”

“What, you mean it wasn’t to see my beautiful face and get to catch up?”

“Why I asked if you were available today, I mean.” She began rooting through her bag. “Because I have a mission, and you’re the perfect person for it.”

Kay practically shoved her food aside, leaning over the table so practically half her torso was on it, head propped up on her steepled fingers. “Oh?” She arched an eyebrow. “What are you proposing?”

Maya, who had placed a folded paper on the table and was just in the middle of eating, choked on her burger. She finished coughing in time to look up at Kay’s puzzled expression, sending herself into another fit of coughs with how hard she was laughing. “It’s funny you should say that,” she wheezed. Her eyes lit up as she unfolded the paper and sild it across the table. “I was waiting at the train station when this caught my eye, and when I read it I knew it was meant to be. And then I thought, well…” She clasped her hands together, bouncing a little in her seat as she watched expectantly.

“You want me to pretend to be your fiancé so you can get free wedding cake samples.” Her voice was neutral as she looked up, face almost expressionless. The stare she gave stretched on just long enough that Maya was starting to get nervous before she broke out into a huge grin. “I love it. What’s the plan?”

She breathed a sigh of relief. Realistically, she had known going into this that Kay would likely agree to her plan, but despite the progress she had made, being only a couple of days gone from Kurain, she was still in that mindset of expecting to have to struggle to have her ideas be heard, and this enthusiastic response was a genuine surprise. Blinking, she noticed that tears had started to form without even noticing, and she shook her head before gesturing at the flyer. “So, it’s tomorrow afternoon at their main bakery location. There’s a park like a block from there, so I was thinking we meet there so we can pretend we came together. Sound good?”

Kay nodded. Really, she was down with whatever Maya had in mind, since she wasn’t overly invested in it. Not that she didn’t want to be involved, but right now Kay was more in it because she knew Maya really wanted this and seeing her smile made her happy. And besides, it did seem like it would be fun. “Get there a few minutes before it starts so by the time we’re ready we’ll still have maximum cake time?”

Deciding to try something, Maya winked at her. “See, this is exactly why we’re engaged. You’re far too good to me,” she said, placing a hand over her heart.

Blowing an exaggerated kiss, she rolled her eyes. “And here I thought you loved me for my dashing good looks and stunning personality.”

They stared at each other for only a moment before they both burst out into laughter.

“This is fun. I was worried it’d get weird.” Maya pushed her bangs back. “It’s not, right? Just, obviously we’re going to have to be convincingly enough of a couple that no one’s going to question us, so, you know.” She rubbed the back of her neck as she talked, busying herself with finishing the remnants of her meal as soon as she stopped. Seeing that she had played along quite enthusiastically, it seemed fine, but Maya also didn’t want to push.

“It’s not weird. And I’m pretty sure we’re already decently convincing; good romantic relationships are usually built on being friends anyway.” A pause as she tapped her fingers on the table. “That and communication. Point is, apart from leaning into being more verbally and physically affectionate, we shouldn’t need to worry about much.”

The casual sincerity of the first sentence alone had relaxed her, enough so that she was now reaching over to steal a handful of fries from the other tray. “Cool. Although, speaking of, there are a few things we should get straight,” she said, and then immediately snorted.

“Oh, that will be a problem.” Kay laughed helplessly. “Pretty sure the whole idea here’s to act gayer than usual, not less.”

“Yeah, that was pretty unfortunate wording.” She reached over for another fry, only to smack her hand against the basket when Kay tried to slide it over to her. “Anyway, communication. What we most need, in order to pull this off, is an airtight understanding of the fiction of our dating history. Otherwise we’ll end up giving completely different answers to a question, and that could be real bad.”

Kay snapped her fingers. “Oooh that’s a good point.” Sliding over so she could lean into the corner where the booth met the wall, she propped her head up with one arm and watched Maya finishing off her food. “Go back and forth with what would be the most likely topics and then go from there?”

A nod. “How long have we been together?”

“Ehh...Two years. First meeting?”

Maya contemplated the ice cubes at the bottom of her glass for a moment before answering, “Go with the truth, probably. It’ll be much easier for us to remember that way. But for things we have to make up… what about how we actually started dating?”

“You asked me out when I got back from my second trip away after we met. I gave you this scarf I had found in a shop and you started crying and told me you loved me.” Her expression softened. “It was really cute.”

Crossing her arms, she tossed her head. “Really. Making decisions about my feelings for me.” She puffed out a breath that blew her bangs out of place. “Then I’m going to say that you had planned this really elaborate proposal for after we finished an investigation that I was helping out with.” Hands on her hips, she grinned widely. “Except then I got arrested for it, and then the guy who turned out to be the accomplice to the actual murderer kidnapped me out of jail and made it look like I broke out so I would seem guilty, and someone tried to impersonate the judge…and a couple of near-explosions later you tackled me as soon as I was released and asked me then and there.”

 Kay made a face. “What does it say that that barely sounds weirder than most of the actual cases either of us has worked with?”

“That we get into a lot of weird stuff.” She shrugged. Then, a thought occurred to her. “Shit, are we going to need a ring?” What was she saying, they were pretending to be engaged, it was only the entire marker of that being a thing, of course they did.

“Uhhh, maybe? I mean, lesbians.” She waved a hand between the two of them. “If we say we’re not going with whatever traditional engagement wedding type stuff, we can pretty much get away with it. But if we want to, I have my parents’ wedding rings somewhere. As long as I can find them,” shifting back to sit directly across from Maya, she held her hands out in front of Maya’s, “we can use one of those. Can I have your hand?”

 A skeptical glance, but Maya brought her left hand over and between where Kay’s were hovering. “Yeah?”

Her attention was already focused looking down as she gently turned her wrist so her palm was facing up. “I want to see what your fingers are in comparison to mine, I can try them on and see if they’d fit you.”

Maya watched her with half-lidded eyes and a smile playing across her face, completely relaxed. Despite the fact that Kay was just as high-energy as her, possibly a little more, and the two of them often fed off one another, being around her really relaxed Maya in a way that no one else really did. Something about the way she really made an effort to understand her, she thought. She was struck with a feeling of intense gratitude that Kay had turned out to be available and willing to go through with this plan, because the more she thought about it, the more she was certain she felt more comfortable with her than anyone else she might have tried to ask.

“I think…we’re about the same size? Should make it pretty easy.” Kay had taken hold of her wrist and was flopping Maya’s hand up and down. “But what do you think we should say about other wedding plan stuff?”

Oh right. That was a whole big thing by itself, and she’d prefer not to have to become an expert in the process just to pull this whole thing off. “Well, we could say that we’re not planning on making it into a big thing, especially since we don’t have big families to deal with.” She tapped her chin. “And that it’s only been a couple weeks since the proposal, so we haven’t had a lot of time to plan anyway.”

“Ooh, that’s easy. I like it.”

They both jumped when a phone started to go off. After a moment’s scrambling, Maya held hers up to her ear.

“Trucy! What are you- oh?” She turned in her seat to check the clock on the wall. “Oh, wow, guess I lost track of time. No, it’s fine, I can be there in a few minutes. Okay, bye!” Hanging up, she gave Kay a sheepish look. “I might have promised Nick I’d walk Trucy back from school.”

She waved it away. “That’s fine. Text me when you two get home then. And I’ll let you know if I think of anything else.” She held out her arms, tilting her head in search of permission before wrapping her in a hug.

Maya rested her head against Kay’s collarbone. Safe and secure. “Yup! See you tomorrow.”

#farafey #Kay Faraday #Maya Fey #Ace Attorney #femslash february #my writing #fanfiction #wip #spent the morning editing out most of the angst #i didnt want this to be a sad one #i mean there will be some angst from the whole 'whoops fake feelings turned into real ones dont make this weird' but /light/ angst #plus side i have half of another fic idea brewing now with the angsty bits bc i do want to do something with them #and that means more farafey! i will build this ship into smth with content if i have to pour my heart into it and do it all myself #adventures in fic writing