Title: The perfect family
Genres: Romance slash (though really slow-paced), family and friendship (the Agency's lawyers being all cute little friends and family), some drama and angst ahead, some fluff also, sort of slice-of-life I guess (don't expect a huge plot or trials or kidnapping anyway XD)
Rating: T for now
Characters: Phoenix/Apollo, a huge participation of Athena and Trucy as part of the family, any characters that have a link to the four of them might show up (meaning about anyone XD)
Disclaimer: I don't own Ace Attorney (I don't even have the games, snif), and I'm not making any money with this fic.
Warnings: Huge spoilers for Dual Destinies and all the games before! I didn't play the Edgeworth's game yet, so please don't spoil too much.
Time of the story: Begins roughly a year after DD. Apollo is 24, Phoenix 36, Trucy 17 and Athena 19 (from what I could gather – correct me if I'm wrong please).

Author Note:

Hello everyone!

I'm new in the fandom and it's also the first time I'm publishing in English, so I'm reaaally nervous (I'm a French speaker by the way). Since I played the game and read fanfics in English, it felt weird when I tried to write in French. The dialogues seemed so strange and my ideas didn't get through. But when I came back to English, strangely enough, everything seemed to fall in place and I wrote this whole chapter in one day. I'm not sure about my English, but oh well, do tell me if you think I suck (you can be more kind though XD).

So yeah, a multi-chapter fanfic in English in a new fandom... somehow I feel this can't go well. But still, I wanna try it. I'm not sure when I will be uploading the next chapter (hopefully soon, but don't expect much).

This ship became one of my favorites and I still wonder why. Heck, I even wonder why Apollo has grown so much on me, despite AJ being my least favorite games of them all. I think I just... find him cute? Yeah, definitely. He's really like the sun, I couldn't help but squeal each time we see him on screen (which is a lot by the way XD), especially when he's embarrassed.

So okay, enough with my rambling! Hopefully you will like this really slow-paced romance between two obliviously dense attorney! This ship needs more fics and that's my participation!

Have a good read!

It was yet another uneventful day at the Wright Anything Agency. Since no clients came barging through the front door, the small team of lawyers had nothing to do. The name Wright came to be known quite a lot lately, but even though they were now really famous, they still had a lot of days like this one. Murder wasn't a mundane occurrence and people usually didn't came for lesser cases.

That being said, Apollo wasn't exactly the type to do nothing. Sitting on his favorite armchair, he was reading through a huge book about strange and obsolete laws all around the world. The legal texts were tough to read, but it never stopped Apollo before. Reading no longer in use laws could seem like a waste of time, but it was kind of funny and it made him think about their juridic system. Anyway, it was still way more useful than what was doing Phoenix right now.

Apollo wondered if it was because old habits die hard, but even if he was a lawyer again – and the boss of two other lawyers, by the way –, Phoenix still slumped on the couch watching TV whenever there was nothing to do. He was now watching with real interest a child's show about samurais (it wasn't the Steel Samurai, but one made of some other metal) while using all by himself the couch in front of the television. At least, he was now wearing his suit (though his tie was loosened) instead of the jersey and beanie Apollo always saw him wear before.

If he wasn't so used to his lack of enthusiasm, Apollo would try to make him do something useful for once – like washing the toilet –, but he didn't have it in him to spark another argument. Instead, he tried to read his unreadable old legal texts and to forget the noise the television was producing.

His relative peace, though, was once more disrupted by Athena, who decided she had enough of reading psychology all by herself in Phoenix's office and walked in the living-room with a huff. Apollo glanced at her and noticed she seemed bored out of her mind. No wonder – Apollo himself could use a new client about now.

She asked her boss to move so she could watch the TV with him. Albeit grunting in disapproval, Phoenix sat up and scrunched to the side, giving her more than enough space to sit down. With her renowned enthusiasm, Athena sat down and started to comment on the show as it was playing.

Apollo was the type to hate when people were talking while watching a movie or something. He couldn't bear to miss something because of some comments, useful or not. If he was watching the show with her – thank god he wasn't! –, he would burst with annoyance and tell her to shut up. But Phoenix, of course, was way more tolerant and he let her speak, even voicing some thoughts from time to time.

Maybe he wasn't watching, but her high-pitched voice was driving his concentration away. He considered going in the office, but he would still hear her from there, he knew it from experience. With a sigh, he decided he had enough of legal texts and actually watched the show for some time.

He was about to explode at Athena because she made one very obvious statement when the door opened, effectively cutting him off. Trucy barged in with a loud "I'm home!". Phoenix was the first to answer, though he didn't get up, and Athena followed suit. Apollo was the only one to stand up and walk to his sister.

Trucy smiled at him with her usual happiness and he answered the same, asking her how was her day at school. While getting out of her coat and her boots, she answered like usual that it had been marvelous. She then glanced all over the room and stated more than asked, "No clients yet, huh?"

Apollo answered with a sigh, "Not since last month."

She beamed at him and tried to comfort him. "At least it means there was no murder," she said with her usual optimism. Apollo was about to tell her that wasn't necessarily true, as murder could very well have happened without them being the lawyers, but stopped himself. Instead, he nodded briefly and went back to his armchair, soon followed by his sister.

Trucy, her bag in hands, made way for a small desk in one corner of the shared room. Apollo noticed she opened the bag and took out some books. As she was getting ready to begin her homework, Athena turned around and asked her, "Hey, Truce, it's the newest episode of Iron Samurai! Come on, sit with us! Even Polly is watching!"

Apollo grumbled something about not being interested – which was true! –, but Athena didn't notice and started making place between her and Phoenix so the youngest could sit. The girl, though, answered, "Sorry, Thena, but I have a big test coming up and I really have to study for this one!"

The actual nineteen years old pouted in a childish antic while Phoenix, with a chuckle, praised his daughter, "You're such a good girl, Truce!"

"Aw, thank you, Daddy!" Answered the magician with her big smile.

Apollo exhaled and picked up his book, thinking maybe he could actually get some calm since Trucy would be studying. And, true enough, Athena stopped nearly shouting her comments; instead, she would lean slightly to her boss and whisper her remarks. This happened to be a lot less annoying, though the music from the show was still distracting.

He invested himself in his book, taking notes on the side about all these curious laws. It truly was interesting, even if most people would think otherwise, and so time flied by.

About an hour later, his eyes were hurting a little and he decided to take a break. After rubbing his eyes to take away the sleepiness, he stretched a little while scanning the room. Phoenix and Athena were still watching something on the television, though it appeared to be a movie with... an orca as the main character. Apollo briefly wondered if it had any link with Ora or Orla Shipley.

Trucy, for her part, was still seated at her desk. More observation of his little sister taught him she wasn't studying anymore. After being by her side for so long, he knew they didn't share the same concentration level: while Apollo had no problem reading something awfully boring for a long time, Trucy seemed unable to sit in one place for too long. It way have to do with the fact that she was still a teenager – though she was seventeen now –, but maybe it was just a part of her.

Instead of looking at her studies, she was leaning back on her chair, seemingly in deep thoughts. She was chewing her pen, the habit she had when she was spacing out. It was obvious she wasn't even trying to understand what was on her desk. Apollo thought maybe he ought to tell her to go back to work, but he knew from experience that wouldn't help at all.

Apollo himself, while looking at her, began to space out a little, noting everything his sister was doing. Since he learned his ability to see nervous habits on people, he began to observe them more and more, to the point where he was doing it without knowing it. Unconsciously, he watched the whole pattern he knew so well of Trucy not wanting to do her homework.

First of all, she would space out and start chewing on her pen, then glance at her work with a sigh, her face filled with something between despair and boredom. Then she would look around and try to find something else to do, while knowing full well nothing was more important than her homework. Upon coming to this conclusion, she would lean back in defeat and glare at her book like it was the source of all bad things in the world.

At this point, she would most of the time groan in defeat and start to write about anything to try and get it done with, but this time, instead, she went back to step one and wallowed in thoughts. Apollo thought it weird, but he guessed she had something important in the back of her mind. Maybe he could try to ask her about it later, fulfilling his duty as her big brother. For now, it was best to let her think it out.

With a quiet sigh, Apollo left Trucy's observation and glanced towards his boss and coworker. They were watching their movie while debating over some issue about the plot, but Apollo wasn't interested. Movies were great, but he preferred to watch them alone, so he could actually understand everything. This movie seemed childish anyway, not his type.

He was wondering if he should still read his book or find something else to do when Trucy got up with a loud thump and nearly screamed, voice filled with annoyance, "Arg, I have enough!"

Her father turned around and asked, "What's wrong, Truce?" The girl sighed and reached the couch Athena and Phoenix were sharing. While making her dad move not so gently, she sat down with a pout. Athena, being the psychologist she was, understood the overly simple truth.

"You're getting nowhere in your studies," she deduced.

Trucy grabbed her own legs and brought her knees to her chin before answering, "It's so much to remember! I understand most of it, but it's so annoying having to memorize so much events and dates and urg!"

Phoenix laughed while Apollo, as her big brother, scolded her, "But it's important to know these things, Trucy."

"Like this will ever be useful to a magician," answered the teenager.

"True enough," said her adoptive father, "but if you want to go to college, you'll need good grades."

She rolled her eyes – she was getting annoyed by their whole act of being a good father and big brother – as she answered noncommittally, "Yeah, yeah."

Silence fell on them as Phoenix didn't push the issue. Apollo thought maybe he should, but then again, Phoenix could never win against his daughter. Trucy was brilliant, though, so he wasn't really worried about her. She would sort it out on her own. Sometimes, she was even more mature than Apollo, even if she was the youngest.

The trio resumed watching TV. Athena and Trucy's discussion – the girl was actually even more talkative than the female lawyer when watching a movie, much to his dismay – didn't really annoy him anymore, because he had decided to scribble in his diary. He always had it with him and would often take it out to write when he had nothing else to do, pretty much like right now. He liked to use it to simplify his thoughts or challenge himself with a tricky question, though right now he was doing neither.

He was part doodling part writing anything that came to mind when, suddenly, he heard his name. This brought him to look up and listen to the conversation, so he didn't miss his sister's suggestion. "Hey, Daddy," she said, "we totally should adopt Polly!"

Her father appeared to be as surprised as Apollo was. He uttered, shock visible on his figure, "What brought this up, Truce?"

However, Athena immediately joined the girl, making Phoenix's question go unanswered, "It's such a good idea Truce! Why didn't I think of it before?"

"But why?" Apollo couldn't help but ask, baffled.

Trucy made that face, like she couldn't believe her brother was this stupid, and Apollo couldn't help but wince. She explained, as if she was talking to a little kid – a dumb kid even, "Because I'm your sister, and Daddy is my Daddy, so he should be yours too! You don't have a father anyway!"

"That was rude, Truce," Phoenix scolded her, albeit without much strength.

The girl ignored his remark altogether and continued with a big grin, "It would be so awesome if you were my big brother!"

"I'm already your big brother," stated flatly Apollo.

"Of course," answered the girl, annoyance clearly visible, "but you know what I mean!"

"Actually," argued the young attorney, "not really."

She was getting frustrated, so Athena intervened and tried to explain what Trucy really meant, "Polly, I think Truce just want this to be more, you know, official. Since she never had a brother before. It's kind of difficult and annoying to explain to every one you are siblings but not in the same family, don't you think?"

"Exactly!" Provided the girl. "Today at school my friends asked me if I had siblings and it was so troublesome having to explain this when everyone just answered simply yes or no."

"Well," tried his brother, "you didn't have to explain everything, did you?"

"Really, Polly, you're telling me to lie? That's something coming from an attorney!"

By this time, it was more of a sibling's quarrel than a real argument and Apollo somehow forgot about what they should be discussing right now. Phoenix was the one to make everyone go back to the topic. "There would be a problem, Truce," he told her in a calm voice. "Just think about it: if we were to adopt him, Polly would have to change his last name. Then we would have two attorneys named Wright and that would be strange."

Trucy was surely too passionate about the conversation to notice it, but Apollo sensed his bracelet tightening ever so slightly around his wrist. Phoenix scratched the back of his neck in a nervous gesture, which should indicate he was lying. It wasn't the first time Phoenix tried to lie to him – even knowing full well his ability –, but right now it just seemed too strange. There was nothing to lie about in this simple statement, and Phoenix wasn't actually lying either: everything he said was true.

But he didn't have much time to think about it, because the magician turned her annoyance to her dad and tried to make her point, "It's details, Daddy! Anyway, there are other cases! Just think about the Gavin!"

"One is a prosecutor and the other was an attorney," the older counterattacked, not lying anymore or feeling nervous about something.

The girl didn't know what to say, so Athena backed her up, "Okay, what about the Von Karma then?"

Phoenix smiled fondly at their attempt while pursuing, "By the time the daughter became a prosecutor, her father wasn't one anymore. Anyway, they weren't of the same sex, so there would be no confusion even if they were working together."

He stopped there, waiting for any sort of objection from the two girls, but they were silent, knowing they couldn't win against a full-fledged attorney – not at this game anyway. To bring everything to a conclusion, the older looked over at Apollo and, while staring right in his eyes, he asked, "Apollo, what's your thoughts about this? I think you should be the one making a decision, since it's your name we're talking about."

At this, the two girls turned towards him and Apollo suddenly felt on the spot. Blushing at getting so much attention at once, he looked at the floor and tried to think of something. He was so caught up in trying to follow what was going on until now that he didn't have time to think this through. Most of all, he felt really confused.

They were waiting for an answer right now and he couldn't provide it. He never thought about anything remotely related to this. He wasn't even sure he was accustomed to Trucy being his sister, let alone having a living mother, so having Phoenix of all people become his father was... way too much.

Unable to cope with the attention, he just busted out, Chords of steel level, "I'm not sure! Actually, I'm really confused! Ah, but I'm fine! Really!"

As usual, he just blurted what came to mind and almost immediately regretted it. When he mustered the courage to look up, he saw one very dejected Trucy, one understanding Athena and one really closed up Phoenix. The last one was a real wonder, but before he had any time to ask him what was wrong, his features regained his more usual calmness and he assured him, "It's okay, Polly, I don't want you to do anything you're not sure about."

Somehow, he seemed relieved. Apollo wasn't the only one freaked out after all; it was comforting in a sense. Trucy made a pout and Athena took on her to explain, all psychologist like, that Apollo had the right to think this through so he wouldn't feel scared. The girl eventually accepted that Apollo wasn't just being a party pooper and they resumed their movie, though they had to go backward a lot because of their discussion.

Apollo, of course, wasn't really watching; the movie was more of a background to his thoughts about this whole matter. Using his diary, he tried to make some sense of what he was thinking.

No matter how hard he thought about it, he just couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that Phoenix would be his father. Sure, he was his mentor, but he never was like a father figure to him. First of all, he wasn't so old, only twelve years older than him, and he never acted like a father with him. With Trucy, perhaps, although not all the time.

It would also make Apollo stand under him way to much for his own good. He never pretended he was the absolute equal of his boss, since Phoenix was a living legend, but he was still an attorney of his own. For a couple of months, he was the only attorney of the Agency! To suddenly become his son... it would feel like a demotion.

The more he thought about it, the more it felt wrong. Yet, Trucy always found a way to make her wishes come true. Apollo couldn't help but hope this one time would be the exception.

For some time, the issue never came up and he left it in the back of his mind. The day after, the agency obtained two cases at the same time. If it had happened any other day, Phoenix would have worked with Athena while Apollo worked with Trucy – it was proven more than once this last team was effective even though the girl wasn't an attorney –, but it was a bad time for Trucy. She had some big magic shows coming up and her exams were right around the corner, so she couldn't afford to make time for a case.

Instead, Phoenix decided to work alone, since he was the more experienced, while Athena and Apollo worked together. Phoenix's was about a theft – one of the rare cases which didn't involve a corpse, hence why he took it –, but Athena and Apollo's was, of course, a murder.

The theft's case went on for a day only, but the murder one was extended because of the need to investigate more. It turned up in the testimony that one of the witness was a potential culprit, therefore the police needed more time to examine the crime scene. It was a relief for Athena and Apollo since, with the way things were going, their client was about to get a guilty verdict.

The rest of the day was spent investigating, thinking about new information and pretty much getting ready for the next day. Phoenix decided to help a little, since he had nothing else to do, so with the three of them they came up with a plan.

A plan that was, of course, crushed by the prosecutor, Simon Blackquill. Though it was difficult, and Apollo thought they were about to lose at least five times, they managed to prove the actual culprit was the only one who could have done it. In the end of the day, they had the Not Guilty verdict they merited.

Of course, they headed to Eldoon's noodle to celebrate. Everyone came, including Simon, even though he had lost – Athena was the one to bring him. Apollo came to realize once more that he wasn't such a jerk outside a courtroom. He actually was way more polite and less menacing. Some times, he even appeared to be timid. He was still getting accustomed to the life outside the prison, even if it was roughly a year since he was proved innocent.

The dinner went well and Apollo talked a lot with Simon. It happened that he was seated besides him, while Athena took the other side of the prosecutor. She always sat down with him, since she knew he was more comfortable with her than anyone else. Phoenix was sitting right besides Apollo, but for one reason or another, they didn't really talk. The older was making jokes with , Trucy and Ema, not quite ignoring Apollo, but never talking to him either.

On the way back to his apartment, he thought a lot about everything he learned about Simon: his love for everything related to Samurais, even the shows the Wright and Athena kept talking about, but also his uneasiness with all the technology he couldn't access from his cell and his hardships concerning every simple facts of life. Overall, it seemed like getting out of prison wasn't as simple as Apollo had first thought.

This was truly interesting, especially since the closed-up Simon talked so much about private matters. He had a hard time telling all of this, but Athena had probed him to do so, since it would help his rehabilitation. Even then, Apollo knew he wasn't telling everything. He avoided talking about the fake detective Fulbright altogether, never once mentioning his name. Surely his treason was taking such a huge toll on him that he couldn't manage to talk about him even after so much time, which Apollo understood really well.

All these thoughts came to a stop when he reached his home. He made his way up the stairs to his door and unlocked it. When entering his own apartment, he never exclaimed he was home like he did at the Agency, knowing full well nobody was waiting for him.

It was a small one-room with a cramped kitchen, the rest being the bedroom as well as the dining room and the living-room. His couch was also his bed, and the small table was the one he was always eating on. He had a television, but almost never watched it. He didn't have any other furniture except for the refrigerator and the oven. Some law books were scattered around, but otherwise the room felt empty, in spite of being so small.

He rented it back when he was still a student and needed a cheap rent, but even if he could afford better now, he still kept it. Not because he was fond of it, but more because he had no reason to move out. He never was home, anyway, and he always figured he would move when he would have a motive, for example if he ever gets a girlfriend.

After brushing his teeth and getting out of his clothes, he closed the light and went to bed. Apollo always feared this one moment. All day long, he could avoid bad thoughts by doing one thing or another, but at night he was left by himself. Most of the times, he thought about Clay and the idea of never seeing his big grin still hurt so much he thought it never would get easier. Otherwise, he could think about his not-so-happy days at the adoption center – though it wasn't that bad, it wasn't all good memories for him – or the overall ordeal with the phantom and his lack of trust in Athena.

Sometimes, even, he thought back to Kristoph Gavin. Never for long, though. He didn't want to linger on it too much, because he knew he wouldn't be able to trust anyone if he did. He never really knew Kristoph all that much anyway, not like Athena.

This peculiar evening, he thought for the first time since the day it was brought up about the adoption Trucy had suggested. He knew why it made so much sense to Trucy: Apollo being her big brother was supposed to mean they share the same father. Their real fathers were different, though, and while Trucy knew hers, Apollo never came to know his. Anyway, the point was that for Trucy, since Phoenix was her Daddy, it only made sense for him to be his.

Apollo could see the logic in that. It was true that the Agency was what felt closest to a family to him. Even before he knew Trucy was his sister, he had considered her as such, and Athena was like another sister, although they had some clashes with the Phantom case. After that, though, Apollo knew he could trust her and so their bond became unbreakable, the kind that last a lifetime.

Phoenix, however... Apollo never was sure how to think of him. Before knowing him, he had idolized him. Back at the orphanage, when he dreamed about being an attorney, Phoenix was his hero. He wanted so much to become like him: he was following his cases and overall fanboying over him.

He had heard about the case that caused his downfall, but he never thought Phoenix would end up like this, playing poker in a basement – even though his job wasn't exactly illegal, it sure felt like it. When he reunited with his teenager years' star, it was such a disappointment that he wounded up punching the guy.

Over the year he worked for the Wright Anything Agency, his disillusion dulled into acceptance, until the Wright of the old days began to resurface – pretty much like his name, he came back from his ashes. Apollo witnessed the whole process and, while not being sure about all of this, he couldn't help but become more and more fond of the guy. Even if he was still annoying at times, he was truly a great man, one Apollo couldn't help but respect and trust, even if their beginnings were rocky to say the least.

When Phoenix got back his badge and wore again his suit, Apollo regained all the respect he felt when he was younger, without the whole hero-worshipping. Now, he considered him as one of the three people he liked more in the whole world, not counting Clay since he was deceased. However, he never got around to demonstrate it so much, because they were two guys and it was way more awkward than with Trucy or Athena.

Anyway, the point was that, while it was pretty clear to him that the two girls where like sisters to him, his relationship with Phoenix was more obscure. He was kind of his mentor, of course, but not that much either: in the beginning, he never taught him anything, and while he learned some things from him, Apollo considered he learned his job more by himself than anything.

He wasn't like a brother, either, mostly because he was too older and they didn't share the closeness he had once with Clay. His childhood friend had felt like a brother because they grew up together and shared everything. His relationship with Phoenix felt nothing of the sorts.

However, this didn't wound up as Phoenix being more of a father to him, because that wasn't true at all. If anything, Phoenix didn't have the vibe of a father. And, well... he never scolded him, patronized him or tried to organize his life, like he did with Trucy. Sure, Apollo never had a father or even a father figure, but he was pretty sure it wouldn't feel like... like that.

On the other hand, he knew he wasn't just his boss. Their relationship ran deeper than that. They got along really great now and were talking of things other than work and, most of all, they had perfect trust in one another. Phoenix truly felt like family to him – the whole Agency felt more of a home than his own apartment –, but it was unnerving not being able to attribute a word to their relationship.

Eventually, he fell asleep without being able to come up with a clear answer.

Before you start to wonder, of course I'm gonna talk about the moment Trucy and Apollo came to know the truth about being siblings and their meeting with Thalassa, but it shall come at a later time. For now it seemed more important to lay all the foundations before trying to build anything on it.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that! In the next chapter you're gonna have some insights on Phoenix, but of course I'm not gonna tell everything because this is supposed to be slow-paced, remember? Don't expect romance in a long time, I said!

Feel free to leave a review if you want, but don't feel bad if you don't do it. A follow or a favorite is still great encouragement!

PS: Simon just had to make an appearance because I love him so much! I will write more about him in another story, but I don't think he will really have a major role here, unless I focus on Athena somewhere along the line (don't expect any CykesQuill though, I'm a huge sucker for FullQuill and PhantomQuill). Anyway, we'll see, the story isn't all thought out yet.