Chapter 1
Miles Edgeworth turned the key in the ignition of his car, had deciding to leave it parked just outside the building wherein lay the office of Phoenix Wright. Edgeworth made this trip in spite of the stories he heard from Phoenix about Maya Fey draining his wallet completely dry due to food expenses, believing that she deserved something for all the abuse she had taken while held hostage during the Engarde trial. He made sure all his car doors were locked before he stepped out and walked towards the office doors.
Maya Fey sat at the front desk of Phoenix's office, humming along with some music on the radio and tapping out the tune on the desk with a pencil, things going rather slow in the office after the Engarde case. For once, Maya couldn't complain, the whole kidnapping episode causing her usual thirst for adventure to be momentarily quenched; now she was just happy to relax in the comfortable and safe surroundings that an adventure-free life afforded her.
Suddenly she heard a knock on the office door, and she wondered if they had another client. Although she was comfortable as she was, she wouldn't say no to a new case to get her mind off of the way she'd almost been starved to death.
"Come in!" she said in her usual cheery voice.
The door opened and Edgeworth stepped in, glancing around the office before his eyes settled on Maya Fey.
"Good afternoon, Maya. I trust everything is well?" his voice pausing for a moment before he asked, "Is Wright available?"
"Oh, hey, Mr. Edgeworth! Nick's actually not here right now...he went to go get us some lunch. I bet he's taking a while to get my order just right." Maya said with a smile, "Was there something you wanted to ask him about?"
Actually yes, but how would she take it? he thought as he curiously looked into Phoenix's personal office, in case he was listening. When Miles was satisfied that he wasn't being eavesdropped upon, he nodded. "Actually…there was. But it really concerned you much more than it did him."
"A question for me?" Maya said, sounding surprised since Miles never seemed very comfortable taking to her in the past.
"Yes…" Miles said carefully, feeling a little awkward since he wasn't good at being social, "Are you busy tomorrow night?"
At the question, Maya scrunched her eyebrows together in thought, now really wondering why Miles would ask her that.
"No, I don't think I'm doing anything. Were you planning something?" Maya asked innocently.
"Well, I was wondering if you would join me for dinner, perhaps?" Miles asked with a hesitant tone, feeling ever more awkward.
Maya was shocked that Miles actually seemed to be asking her out to dinner, and this realization caused a light blush to come to her cheeks.
"Dinner?" Maya asked shyly.
Miles only nodded in reply, quite embarrassed himself.
"Oh." Maya said, suddenly realizing how awkward this situation was, especially since it was Miles who was asking her this question.
But, she knew that it must have been very difficult for Miles to come and talk with her like this, since he was rather bad at expressing his emotions, so she decided that there was no way she could say no. And besides, she always was curious about Miles and decided this would be an excellent chance to get to know him better, especially since he went out of his way to ask her to dinner.
"I'd love to go." Maya said happily, her tone touched with surprise, still blushing slightly.
Miles nodded again in reply and asked, "Well . . . besides burgers, what else is there that you'll eat?"
On the subject of food, Maya's eyes visibly lit up as she spoke, "Oh, I love all kinds of food. Really, if it tastes good, I'll eat it!"
On the conclusion of her sentence she gave Miles a large smile. Miles, himself, had to gulp. There went his wallet.
Hiding his despair at the fact that his entire check would be written off, he laughed at her cheerful demeanor. "I see being kidnapped didn't take away your spirit."
"You know, one thing that kept me going was thinking of all the wonderful food I would get when everyone finally found me." Maya admitted, the smile not leaving her face.
Maya thought for a moment and then she spoke again, her tone turning just slightly serious, but still staying a bit light, "And, I just wanted to say thanks, Mr. Edgeworth...if it wasn't for your help, I'm not sure if anyone would have found me, especially not as fast as they did!"
"Well… " Miles wasn't sure what else to say, just standing there, clasping his hands.
Before Maya could say another word, the office door flew open and Phoenix came in saying, "Seriously, Maya, why do your orders have to be so complicated? This is--"
Phoenix suddenly noticed that Miles was here as well, and he seemed to be standing rather awkwardly in front of the desk that Maya was sitting at.
"Oh, hey, Edgeworth." Phoenix said, sounding friendly, setting the food he brought down on the desk.
"Hey, Nick! Took you long enough!" Maya piped in, reaching into one of the bags he brought back with him, and immediately began to devour the burger inside.
Miles chuckled and nodded to Wright, and then said, "Well, I should get going…I thought you had work, but it appears that you don't have a case. Perhaps you should take one--seeing as you have so much free time." Upon saying this, the prosecutor turned and headed to the door, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible, never feeling comfortable in social situations such as these.
Maya quickly put her burger down, swallowing what she was chewing, speaking in an urgent tone, "Wait, Mr. Edgeworth! You didn't tell me where you were taking me to dinner!"
At this, Phoenix raised his eyebrows in surprise and he said, "Dinner?"
He then looked at Miles questioningly.
Miles stopped and then his face turned red, slamming his eyes shut as he then remembered that he forgot. "I'll be here at five tomorrow, Maya." That was all he was willing to let out before running out the door, which was rather…unlike him.
As he glanced at Miles running away, Phoenix was a little dumbfounded by what was going on. "…Maya?"
"Well…Mr. Edgeworth came into the office, asking to talk to you, but then when I said you were getting the burgers, he told me that he wanted to take me out to dinner." Maya said thoughtfully, smiling slightly to herself.
"Ahh…wait, Edgeworth?" Phoenix was still trying to digest the information in his brain. "He did what?"
"Yeah, he asked me to go have dinner. With him. Do you believe it?" Maya said, sounding a little surprised herself.
Phoenix looked almost hurt but masked it well as he smiled for her. "Well, no. But…I'm sure he's just trying to get out and actually talk to other people for non-work related reasons."
"Yeah..." Maya agreed with a little nod.
Then she thought for a moment before a slightly anxious and confused expression materialized on her face.
"Nick...since he asked me to dinner…would this make it a date? I've never been on a date before..." Maya asked in a shy tone, looking at Phoenix questioningly.
"I suppose," the attorney said, looking thoughtful, still feeling very hurt about the whole idea, finding it very difficult to keep this hurt out of his tone.
"What do you think I should wear?" Maya went on to ask, as if Phoenix would be an expert on ladies' clothing.
"I don't know, Maya," Phoenix stammered. He couldn't even imagine her wearing anything other then her channeling outfit. "Aren't you just going to go in that?" He waved his hand at the outfit in question.
"In this?! No, way Nick! I mean, in all the movies I've seen, all the girls going out on dates got all dressed up in fancy dresses and everything!" Maya said, sounding dead sure.
"Alright! But I don't know much about clothes, so I don't know what to tell you!" Phoenix said, at a bit of a loss.
"Geez, you're no help, Nick." Maya said with a pouty face.
He laughed at the look on Maya's face and said, "Well, I never really went on dates at all…"
"You didn't?" Maya said in surprise.
"Not really. I had too much to think about, in school." Phoenix said, now looking vaguely embarrassed.
"Too much to think about? What do you mean?" Maya said, completely missing Phoenix's hint.
"Well, I was really busy!" he said, scratching his head sheepishly. "With--stuff."
"Too busy, even for one little date?" Maya said, scrunching her eyebrows in confusion.
Phoenix nodded and pretended to be looking for something, humming momentarily. "Yep."
Maya kept looking at Phoenix in confusion and then she said in disbelief, "No way...you had to have at least had a crush on someone!"
"Ah well . . ." He said as he unconsciously blushed red, really wanting to stay away from this conversation.
A big smile materialized on Maya's face when she realized she was on to something.
"I knew it! Who was it, was it some girl you knew in college?" she asked in a rush, sounding a little excited.
"Well, he was the reas--wait, why are you asking me that?" Phoenix stammered, looking like a deer caught in headlights.
Maya opened her mouth to ask further questions, when Phoenix's comment sunk in. She realized that he had said "he" instead of "she", and her mouth dropped open in surprise.
Phoenix looked in his desk drawer and slid a chocolate bar her way that he found, hoping that would be enough to distract her away from this conversation, "Here, you're probably still hungry."
Maya took the chocolate bar, but she did not eat it. She thought over all the times that Phoenix seemed to avoid conversations about relationships, and it didn't stand out so much then, but now it all made sense.
Finally the smile returned to her face and she said, rather loudly to Phoenix's dismay, "Whoa, Nick, I didn't know you were gay!"
"I'm not!" he protested, slamming his hand down. "I have to object to that statement."
"No, Nick, it's okay! I'm totally okay with you being gay!" Maya said, still talking a bit too loudly for Phoenix's comfort.
"Maya! Stop that!" Phoenix said, blushing fully. "It's--complicated."
"It can't be that complicated...you were just about to tell me how this guy was the reason you did something..." Maya trailed off as she thought she realized something.
As Phoenix looked at her questioningly as she thought, she suddenly yelled, startling him slightly.
"Ahh!! I know who it was!" she said, sounding very excited now.
The attorney jumped and blinked, gulping nervously. "You...do?"
Now her smile turned teasing, "Yeah...you were about to say 'reason you became a lawyer', weren't you?"
He looked away. "Ah, no."
"Oh, you so were!" Maya said, knowing that she was hot on the trail, "That means it could only be one person!"
Phoenix really was nervous now and he had managed to fall in his chair, putting his face in his hands. "Maya--"
"It has to be Larry! Oh, you have a crush on Larry, that's so cute!!" Maya said, practically squealing as she said it.
"Maya, how could you guess that it was E--?" Then he realized what she said and laughed. Then, he spoke in a dead pan voice, with just the touch of amusement, "...no, Maya. It's not Larry."
"Nick, I'm so glad you finally told me! I can totally help you! Maybe I can talk to Larry and see what he thinks!" Maya said, going into plotting mode, not even realizing the major slip that Phoenix just made.
"...it's okay, Maya..." Phoenix smiled in relief but shook his head. "I'll tell him myself---later."
WAY later, he thought to himself, shaking his head.
Maya wasn't quite sure what to wear for this outing, since she never really went out for dinner like this before. She looked in her closet and found a black dress that someone had given her as a present one year for her birthday.
Who'd have thought that this thing would actually come in handy one day? Maya thought, giving the dress a look over, deciding that was the best thing she had to wear to an outing like this.
She put it on and felt a little awkward wearing the dress when she looked at herself in the mirror. She decided to not think about this too much as she put her hair in a bun. After studying herself in the mirror some more now that she was totally ready, she decided that maybe this dress look wasn't so bad after all.
Maybe I could try wearing dresses more...Maya thought, smiling shyly to herself as she left to go to Phoenix's office.
When she finally arrived, she opened the door and then waited inside for Miles.