tcvsfiredemon

[tcvsfiredemon]

Narumayo story idea: Phoenix and Maya start calling each other husband and wife as a joke(or maybe to exploit a couple’s discount at a restaurant) and become so committed to the bit that they forget they aren’t actually married.

They don’t figure it out until years down the line when they’re helping to plan Pearl or Trucy’s wedding and realize that this is actually an entirely new experience for them.

Phoenix: B-but we must at least be legally married, right? I remember going to the courthouse with you.

Maya: Nick, we go to the courthouse all the time. That’s our job.

Phoenix: Dang it, I knew I was forgetting something!

[tcvsfiredemon]

I think the reason the AA6 devs didn’t use that concept design of Maya with her boobs out is because if they did they’d have to write a scene where Phoenix’s eyes pop out and he goes AWOOGA like a cartoon wolf

[tcvsfiredemon]

I’ll never understand Tumblr’s search function, because usually when I search for Narumayo I end up with a bunch of nice art and dumb shitposty stuff, but every once in a blue moon I cross over into an alternate universe populated entirely by discourse that I never see at any other time.

[tcvsfiredemon]

Narumayo telling their kids their love story

Kids: Wait, Mommy, you hit Daddy in the head with a pipe?

Maya: Only ‘cause I knew he could take it!

Phoenix, gazing at her longingly: Nobody ever believed in me like that before…

[tcvsfiredemon]

Sometimes I wonder what the world would look like if Shu Takumi had decided to raise the number next to Mayoi Ayasato’s name by one(1) back in 2001.

Probably not too different, but dare I think a little better?

[tcvsfiredemon]

I think every Ace Attorney artist who doesn’t think Narumayo is the spawn of Satan should make one piece of Narumayo fan art, for two important reasons:

It’ll scare off all those weirdo antis who think hating ships is a way to stay morally pure

It’ll make me, a Narumayo shipper, happy

Just a suggestion .

[tcvsfiredemon]

Mate, it’s okay to just dislike a ship. You don’t have to justify that dislike by accusing people who do ship it of misogyny. And you definitely don’t have to make weird generalizations about foreign cultures in the process.

you have to be a specific type of misogyny-afflicted individual to read phoenixs and mayas relationship as romantic.. irt to the english localization at least. majority of ppl playing the eng localization are Not going to interpret their relationship as romantic. bc of the age gap, power dynamics, lack of romantic chemistry, and so on.... with that said at least from wht ive seen, narumayo seems more popular in japan than it is in eng speaking circles. so i wonder whats up w that. east asian shipping/fandom culture is way different from the west however, their culture in general really

[tcvsfiredemon]

Proof that Narumayo is the top Maya Fey ship

Naruto = A ramen topping

Mayonnaise = A hamburger topping

Naruto + Mayonnaise = Narumayo

Checkmate, non-shippers.

[tcvsfiredemon]

Platonic Narumayo and Romantic Tension

I was originally gonna post this as a twitter thread, but it started getting really long and that toxic sludgepit doesn’t deserve that kind of effort. Get yourself a snack or something, it’s gonna get rambly.

I think people who go out of their way to shut down the possibility that there could be any romantic attraction between Nick and Maya are missing out on a really cool aspect of their platonic relationship.

There’s a lot to be said about the many facets of the Narumayo friendship, from their bonding through shared trauma, to their building a found family with Pearl, to their effortless ability to trade off being the straight man of their comedic duo. But I think a lot of people miss how much of their friendship is informed by the fact that they both kinda want to kiss each other.

First off, Maya is constantly teasing Phoenix, and often in a weirdly flirty way. Just a few examples off the top of my head. She says Max is dreamy with stars on his face and immediately suggests Nick put stars on his face. She acts like a spurned lover when Phoenix is talking to Adrian, specifically in an attempt to get him flustered. She explicitly compares Phoenix rescuing her from being kidnapped to the DeLites’ love story. 

There’s quite a few moments like this throughout the games, and coupled with a lot of Maya’s actions and reactions, I get the sense that we’re supposed to believe that she has a thing for Nick. Maybe that’s just the shipping goggles talking, but it really does feel like the intended subtext. I mean, look at that what she instinctively drew when she was in 

(You’re probably wondering when the platonic part comes in. We’ll get there.)

But even if Maya does have a crush on Phoenix, does he return it? Obviously she’s very important to him, but is that really as a romantic interest? We often see him get flustered or stunned into silence whenever people assume he and Maya are dating(which happens a lot), but I feel like that can easily just be read as him being uncomfortable with people assuming he’s in a relationship with his assistant.

In general, Phoenix’s feelings for Maya are fairly ambiguous and probably not something that he’s thought through too much himself. That is, of course, until the waitress scene. That scene, in my opinion, is the single hardest thing to justify if you’re trying to deny any romantic tension within Narumayo. I’ve seen people say that it’s just Phoenix giving a compliment to his best friend/sister figure, but is that really the tone that’s being conveyed there? 

That initial comment on her voice. The pregnant pause when he sees her. The weird pick-up line that probably just came out of his mouth without any thought. That’s not the actions of a guy innocently complimenting his friend, that’s the reaction of a guy who just realized that he finds his friend hot. I’d argue that the case can’t even proceed the way it does unless Phoenix thinks Maya is attractive, because that’s what gives him the idea to try to get her to seduce information out of Kudo.

So between Maya and Phoenix we have two best friends with a lot of chemistry who are probably into each other, and whose friends definitely think are already togeyhet, but we never actually see them take that step into romance. And you know what? It fucking works!

(See, told you we’d get into the platonic stuff eventually.)

One of my favorite movies of all time is When Harry Met Sally, and while the titular couple does get together in the end, most of the film is about the two of them navigating being best friends while obviously having romantic feelings for each other. It’s a beautiful story of these two people building a wonderful platonic relationship and then very nearly ruining it when they try to turn it romantic. 

That’s the dynamic I see between Phoenix and Maya. They love each other and are probably in love with each other, but they insist on keeping things strictly platonic because to change that could mean to destroy what they’ve spent years building up. It’s an underlying tension that underscores a lot of their actions.

It’s the dynamic that the two of them still have almost a decade later in SoJ, where they find immense comfort just being in each other’s presence, investigating cases like old times. And no matter how much Phoenix gawks at Maya like a sun fish, no matter how many times Maya teases Nick while they’re investigating a wedding-based case, no matter how much they may or may not want to kiss, they’re so happy just to be friends.

(Not that I’d be mad if they did end up kissing…)

Obviously there’s nothing wrong at all with seeing Narumayo as siblings or as purely platonic friends who would never in their wildest dreams be romantically interested in each other, but I do feel like something is lost in that interpretation. 

Like, I’m not the biggest fan of romantic Narumitsu, but I don’t think you can truly appreciate their friendship while ignoring that those guys have a weird pseudo-romantic tension going on. Without it they’re just two dudes who used to be friends and don’t have a whole lot of chemistry but would still for some reason die for each other. Once you acknowledge that “oh, they’re kinda in love, aren’t they” it all makes perfect sense.

I don’t think platonic Narumayo exactly falls apart if you ignore their romantic tension. They still have all that other stuff I talked about, but their relationship loses a lot of richness if it’s reduced to just “besties” or “siblings”. Even the games themselves took a little time to explore the potential romantic tension between Phoenix and Maya, and I think that’s been pretty instrumental in making them one of the coolest male/female friendships this side of When Harry Met Sally.

[tcvsfiredemon]

Maya: Nick, I'm madly in love with you. Let's get married and have kids.

Phoenix, thinking: N-no way, what's she implying? She couldn't mean...

[tcvsfiredemon]

Narumayo Day 7: The Original Shipper

Miss Trucy really wanted to see the big ball on TV, and she wasn’t going to go to sleep until she did. Mr. Nick kept trying to tell her that she was too young to stay up that late, but Trucy wouldn’t change her mind, so he and Mystic Maya finally agreed to let them stay up. 

Pearl really admired how Miss Trucy could talk like that to her father. Her mother would never let her stay up late, even if she really wanted to, even if Mystic Maya promised that she’d take care of her. Sometimes she’d get in trouble just for asking, so Pearl never asked. 

Mr. Nick and Mystic Maya weren’t like her mother, though Pearl knew that. They never yelled at her for doing things wrong or for talking too loudly when she wasn’t supposed to. But she still didn’t feel comfortable asking them to stay up for the fireworks because she knew they would want some ‘alone time’ and she didn’t want to get in the way.

She was okay with just hearing Mystic Maya tell stories about New Years in the big city, picturing the beautiful fireworks and the big ball on the TV in her head. And of course she pictured Mystic Maya and Mr. Nick kissing right when the New Year came, because that was what people in love did.

But now that she thought about it, Pearl was so happy that Miss Trucy asked to stay up, because the night had been so fun so far. They played hide-and-seek and ate a lot of ice cream and watched all of her and Trucy’s favorite movies. She especially loved the one with the princess with the long hair, because she reminded Pearl of Mystic Maya, and the cool thief who rescues the princess from her tower reminded her of Mr. Nick. And whenever it got to the part of the movie with all the lanterns, Mystic Maya and Mr. Nick would sing along like they were the princess and the thief. It made Pearl’s heart leap.

And it was so fun to stay up with Miss Trucy, because she would always think of something new to do, like make up some game for them all to play, or pass notes back and forth with Pearl about how Mr. Nick and Mystic Maya kept looking at each other all night. Looking at Miss Trucy now, Pearl frowned a bit. It looked like she was about to fall asleep. Pearl couldn’t have that. Trucy had to stay up to see the big ball like she wanted.

“How much longer, Mystic Maya?”

“Just a few minutes, Pearly.”

Pearl could see her cousin looking over at Mr. Nick again. She’d been doing that a lot lately, even more than usual, and Pearl thought she could see something in her eyes that wasn’t there before. Could it be that they’d fallen even more deeply in love? Pearl’s heart skipped a beat at the thought.

“Hey Maya, don’t you think we should start pouring the grape juice for the New Year?” said Mr. Nick, causing Miss Trucy to spring awake. Pearl smiled and bounced a little in Mystic Maya’s lap. Trucy loved grape juice. Mr. Nick knew just how to wake her up.

“You mean the juice in the kitchen?” Mystic Maya replied. Pearl looked back and forth between the two adults. They were talking kind of funny. Could they be making plans for a little ‘alone time’?

“Yeah, do you think you can give me a hand pouring it while the girls wait patiently in the living room?”

Pearl’s breath hitched. It was true! They wanted to be alone together in the kitchen!

“Sure, Nick. Do you girls think you can hold down the fort while we’re in there?”

Pearl quickly gave an excited nod, prompting Trucy to make a salute. Mystic Maya laughed happily and she and Mr. Nick got up.

“Remember to let us know when the countdown gets close to zero, okay?”

“You got it, Daddy!”

After the adults disappeared into the kitchen, Pearl locked eyes with Miss Trucy, who was smiling wide.

“I didn’t know we were getting grape juice!”

Pearl nodded. “It’s a tradition. Only Mystic Maya and Mr. Nick get a kind of juice that we’re not supposed to drink.”

Trucy frowned a bit, apparently not liking the idea of juice that she couldn’t drink, but she quickly went back to smiling and scooched herself next to Pearl on the couch. On the TV the people were getting super excited. The numbers above the big ball were getting really low.

“It’s almost time!” Trucy exclaimed.

Pearl couldn’t help but eye the kitchen door, wondering what Mystic Maya and Mr. Nick were doing in there. She heard some laughing and a little talking. Or were they…kissing?

“What’s taking them so long? It’s almost time!” Trucy said with her arms folded and her legs bouncing.

“Uh, maybe they spilled the juice? Mr. Nick can be clumsy sometimes.”

Trucy jumped off the couch in response.

“Daddy said to tell him when the countdown’s almost done. I’m gonna tell him now.”

Pearl gasped. She didn’t want Miss Trucy to interrupt any ‘private moments’. She put herself in her friend’s way.

“Wait, I can do it! I, uh, can help clean up if they spilled!” Pearl bit her thumb, hoping Miss Trucy believed her.

“Okay!” she chirped. Pearl breathed a sigh of relief and rushed to the kitchen door, slowly opening it up a crack. 

Her eyes went wide. Mystic Maya had her arms around Mr. Nick and was reaching up to obviously give him a kiss. It was happening! They were in love! Without even thinking, Pearl let loose an excited squeal.

“I knew it! I knew it I knew it I knew it!”

And as it turned out, she always had.

[tcvsfiredemon]

Narumayo Week Day 6: Domestic/Intimacy

Trucy wanted to stay up to see the ball drop, and she wasn’t going to take no for an answer. As many times as Phoenix tried to explain that it wasn’t healthy for a nine-year-old to be staying up, she’d always have the perfect response about cultural experiences being good for her mental health. Maya had no idea where Trucy had learned these terms or if she actually understood what they meant, but she couldn’t help but snicker at Phoenix being out-lawyered by his own daughter.

Eventually, after much back and forth and reassurances from Maya that they’d get the girls to sleep as soon as they hit the New Year, Phoenix relented. Now, several hours and a few Disney movies later, it was less than ten minutes to midnight. She and Phoenix sat next to each other on their newly christened couch(and newly stained with the evening’s pasta sauce), with Pearl and Trucy on their laps, both desperately straining to keep awake.

“How much longer, Mystic Maya?” Pearl yawned. She’d been especially excited for tonight, having spent all her previous New Year’s Eves in Kurain, far away from the fireworks displays of the city.

“Just a few minutes, Pearly,” Maya responded, stroking her cousin’s hair. She glanced over at Phoenix, who gave her a warm smile. Trucy was sitting on his leg, trapped in a constant cycle of nodding off and snapping away. On the TV the usual ballyhoo on the other side of the country was unfolding, although they’d turned the volume way down to just enjoy each other’s presence.

Maya loved this, she really did. Growing up, it had really just been her and Mia, two sisters against the world, off in their far away mountain kingdom. She’d always dreamed about living like the big, happy families in her picture books. And now here she was, without even planning it, smack dab in the middle of a beautiful family, experiencing their first New Year as a foursome.

There was some selfish part of her that wished that the girls could have already been asleep, though. That it could just be her and Phoenix snuggling on the couch, drinking lots of champagne, sharing that first New Year’s kiss that romcoms had drilled into her head was of vital importance to a young relationship.

Pearl and Trucy didn’t even know that they were together yet, and she and Phoenix had been having a tough time deciding when and how to let them know. Honestly, Maya felt like the hardest part would be preparing their eardrums for the high-pitched squeals that were sure to come out of the girls’ mouths when they found out. She felt a big smile growing on her face just thinking about it.

“Hey Maya, don’t you think we should start pouring the grape juice for the New Year?” Phoenix said to her with a twinkle in his eye. Trucy and Pearl perked right up at the notion of juice.

“You mean the juice in the kitchen?” Maya asked, starting to catch on to what he was saying.

“Yeah, do you think you can give me a hand pouring it while the girls wait patiently in the living room?"

“Sure, Nick,” she looked down at Pearl and Trucy, “Do you girls think you can hold down the fort while we’re in there?”

Pearl nodded and Trucy gave a big salute, which made Maya laugh. Carefully, she and Phoenix took the girls off their laps and got up, with him turning the TV volume up just a bit.

“Remember to let us know when the countdown gets close to zero, okay?”

“You got it, Daddy!”

With that, the adults fled into the office apartment’s cramped little kitchen. It wasn’t the most intimate space, but it at least gave them a little time alone. Maya glomped right onto Phoenix as he brought two bottles down and four glasses down from the cupboard.

“That’s my Nick, grabbing stuff from the top shelf like a pro.”

“You know that’s not that much of a feat for most people, right?”

“Shut it, dummy. I’m normal sized, it’s the world that’s freakishly tall.”

Phoenix chuckled, and leaned down to give her a kiss, emphasizing the height difference. He handed her a bottle, getting to work on pouring champagne for the two of them with the other.

“It doesn’t bother you that you’re serving alcohol to minors?” she said as she eyeballed the glasses to make sure the amount in each was even.

“What do you mean? The kids are getting sparkling grape juice.”

“Uh, Nick, you know I don’t turn 21 until April right? I know I seem so elegant and mature that it’s hard to tell.”

“Huh, you know, I honestly completely forgot.”

“Well, unfortunately for you you’re a criminal now. Hope you know a good lawyer.”

The pouring done, Phoenix grabbed her around the waist and gave her a big kiss. Maya found herself unconsciously lifting her leg behind her.

“I still can’t believe we waited so long,” she breathed out after they finished.

“I still can’t believe we haven’t told Trucy and Pearl yet.”

“We’ll let them know. Soon. Let’s have this night for ourselves, though.”

“I’d rather have the whole next year.”

Maya stood there, savoring this moment in which all that seemed to exist in the world were his big blue eyes. She bit her lip and stood up on her tiptoes to reach his lips again. None of this leaning over stuff for her.

Suddenly, a shriek rang out, so high that Maya wasn’t sure Phoenix’s old man ears would even be able to pick up on it. They turned to see Pearl standing in the doorway, a look of pure delight on her face.

“I knew it! I knew it I knew it I knew it!” she screamed, jumping up and down so fast that she threatened to rock the whole building. Trucy soon came up behind her, a big smile on her face as well.

Maya turned back to Phoenix, a look of amused acceptance on his face.

“You were right all along, Pearls,” he said warmly, “We really are special someones.”

In the other room Maya could hear the TV host du jour counting down more and more excitedly. She closed her eyes for a second, thinking about all that had happened over the past year, all the triumphs and all the tragedies, all the memories they’d shared as the growing family they were. And most of all she thought of what Mia might think if she saw them now, her kid sister and her dopey protege, soulmates all along.

As the big crowd on the TV screamed “one” in unison, and as the sound of fireworks began to shriek through the skies of Los Angeles, Maya closed the gap between her lips and Phoenix’s.

She would make sure they had the whole next year.

[tcvsfiredemon]

Narumayo Week Day 5: Holidays/Teasing

The whole house was starting to smell like turkey and Phoenix could see Maya’s eyes start to glaze over. They were stuck in a conversation with his uncle Ryo, so he couldn’t really blame her for getting distracted. Ryo restored antique furniture for a living, and there was only so much in depth discussion of wood polishing methods a person could take before they dreamed of sweet oblivion.

“...but the thing about this particular piece was that most of the rot was right in the middle, so of course I wasn’t going to be able to get the job done with sandpaper alone. What I ended up doing was…”

Phoenix was nodding rhythmically along as he felt Maya tugging on his shirt sleeve.

“Nick, I’m gonna check out what’s going on in the kitchen,” she whispered to him, “Can you hold out here without me?”

“I think I’ll survive,” he said, smirking at her. Maya was doing a terrible job of hiding how much her mouth was watering and how often her eyes shifted to the kitchen door. He knew if she didn’t get a look at the food soon she would probably explode. “Just don’t eat everything before we even set the table.”

“I’m not that impatient, Nick!” she huffed, then gave him a quick peck on the cheek and left. Uncle Ryo was too busy discussing the different acidities of wood glue to notice. 

Phoenix smiled as he watched Maya weaving through the living room, making brief conversations with his relatives on the way to her destination. This was her third appearance at the Naruhodo family Thanksgiving feast, and she had blended right in with his extended family. Last year Pearl had come along for the ride and this year Trucy had made her debut, quickly becoming the hit of the party. Right now he could see her leading Pearl and his youngest cousins in some kind of imagination game. It turned his heart to mush how happy everyone looked.

“So the Pen-man gets a kiss goodbye, huh?”

Phoenix was shaken from his thoughts by the feeling of a long arm around his shoulders. It was his cousin Ken, a few years older than him but nearly a foot taller. They’d always been close as kids, with Ken acting as the brother Phoenix had never had. He liked to call him ‘Pen’, a fact which had delighted Maya to no end when she found out. Phoenix noticed that Ryo was giving his spiel to someone else now, seemingly without actually stopping. Silently, he thanked the fates.

“How’s it going, Ken? Did you hit any birds on your walk here?”

“Very funny, dude. So are you and Maya an item now?”

“W-what?” Phoenix exclaimed, trying to will his cheeks not to turn red, “Why would you think that?”

Ken scratched his head. “Uh, because you guys have been attached at the hip this whole day. I think we all figured you finally made things official. Especially with that kiss just now”

He did a big exaggerated imitation of the cheek kiss to make his point.

“Come on, man, it was barely a kiss. That’s just how Maya says goodbye.”

“Really, Pen, are you that much in denial? I didn’t see her puckering up for Uncle Ryo just now.”

“We’re not a thing, okay? And we never were a thing, no matter what you keep telling yourself.”

Phoenix was a little embarrassed by how flustered this was making him. For some reason spending time around his cousins always made him feel like he was a teenager again.

“Chill, dude, I’m just messing with you. And you know it’s not just me who thinks you two are together, right? Hey, Kelly!”

A pretty redheaded woman next to them looked up from her conversation. Ken and Kelly had gotten married a while back. She had been especially welcoming to Maya and the kids these past few years.

“What’s up, babe?”

“What do you think about Pen and Maya?”

“Huge congrats, Phoenix! It’s about time you two got together.”

“We…we aren’t together.”

“Oh!” Kelly exclaimed, sounding genuinely surprised, “But you two have been all over each other all day.”

Ken gave Phoenix a look that said see, I told you so, and Phoenix could feel the temperature in his cheeks rising to the triple digits.

“Maya’s just a very affectionate person, that’s all.”

“Especially affectionate when it comes to you, though, huh?” she replied with a suggestive look.

“Pen-man, you don’t have to be ashamed, you know. We all love Maya around these parts. She’s family too.”

“I get that, it’s just that we’re. Not. Actually. Together.”

“What, not even a ‘friends with benefits’ kind of thing?”

“Kelly, not you too!”

Just then, there was a loud crash at the other end of the room, and all eyes turned to where the kids had knocked a vase off the mantlepiece. Pearl was already diligently trying to sweep up the pieces and Trucy was apologizing loudly, but Ken and Kelly’s three-year old son Kevin was crying.

“Oof, we should probably handle this, babe,” said Kelly.

“Yeah, definitely. Talk to you later, Pen!” And just before he ran off, Ken put his hand on Phoenix’s shoulder, “In all seriousness, dude, I think that girl really likes you, and if you like her back you better say so before you lose her. Love you, coz.

“Love you too.”

Once everything was cleaned up things went back to normal. Trucy quickly organized a new, slightly more cautious game. Uncle Ryo went back to droning as if nothing had happened. Phoenix continued his circuit around the living room, getting redder and redder as more of his relatives congratulated him and told him what a cute couple he and Maya made.

After a good half hour the spirit medium finally emerged from the kitchen, a big smile on her face and a little bit of gravy on the corner of her mouth. Immediately she attached herself to his hip.

“So, did I miss any interesting conversation, Nick?

“Just a lot of dumb cousin talk.”

[tcvsfiredemon]

Narumayo Week Day 4: Stepladders/Cuddling

WARNING: Steamy

Well, it had finally happened. The moment that Maya had been fantasizing about for the past four years of her life, ever since she first locked on to the kindest pair of blue eyes she’d ever seen through glass at the detention center. Here she was, lying peacefully in bed(naked!), with Phoenix(also naked!) wrapping his warm(and surprisingly muscular) arms tenderly around her as he traced a trail of soft kisses down her neck. She felt safe and cozy in his embrace, because now he knew that she was in love with him, and she knew that he felt the exact same way.

Oh, and they’d just had sex! The hot, sweaty, silly, passionate, wonderful sex reserved for two people who were finally tired of trying to just be friends. In hindsight it was so obvious. They’d spent so much time together becoming intimately aware of how each other’s mind worked, exchanging long, knowing glances. “Just friends”, they’d insisted, sleeping in the same bed every night, going on couples outings that totally weren’t dates, ramping up their physical contact as they inched closer and closer to the boundary between friends and lovers.

Now that boundary had been blown to smithereens and Maya felt herself sighing with relief as much as pleasure. She couldn’t be happier. Couldn’t be more satisfied to be lying here with Phoenix acting as her own personal blanket, feeling his hot breath on her neck and knowing that she was loved. Well, okay, there was one thing that would make this moment a hundred times better: if the whole thing hadn’t started with that stupid stepladder argument.

It had been a normal day. Maya had promised to get Phoenix a new couch for the office as a holiday present and they made a day of going to Buy-Kea to pick one out. The food court was on point as always, and they were having fun playing house with the girls in the room displays, when the mood was spoiled by a pushy salesman trying to get them to buy more than they needed. He wouldn’t relent no matter how many times she and Phoenix explained they didn’t need a pair of love seats to match the couch.

The ordeal only ended when the employee was called away to help change a lightbulb, which Maya interpreted as a rescue from the store management. They passed him later on, perched atop a wobbly ladder and struggling to reach the ceiling light, and she’d made some snide comment about snakes and ladders. Instantly she regretted her wording as Phoenix got a sinister smile on his face. The ladder was indeed one with steps on it.

He made his usual pedantic correction and she responded with her stock quip about cultural differences, hoping he’d drop it, but he pressed on for the rest of the shopping trip, with even Pearl and Trucy adding their two cents. She didn’t understand why it even mattered. A ladder was a ladder no matter what it looked like.

Phoenix squeezed her a little tighter now, running his hand through her hair in a smooth, gentle rhythm that made her feel like her soul had left her body. With an ‘mmm’ of pleasure she snuggled in a little closer and squished herself against him. God, she could feel the definition of his abs. How had she missed out on this for so long?

Things calmed down after they got home. They had a nice dinner and watched a little TV before putting the girls to bed. As they headed to their room, though, Phoenix couldn’t help himself, stating his case for stepladders that she was sure he’d been formulating for hours. She snapped back at him about having nothing better to do without his badge, which was admittedly low, and suddenly they were in a shouting match about ladders and stepladders.

Maya genuinely couldn’t remember a time when they’d had a talk as heated as this, but there they were, making arguments half the time and slinging petty insults the other half, getting more and more in each other’s faces. Maya finally had enough and was about to drop the ultumate smoking gun for Team Ladder, when halfway through her sentence Phoenix kissed her.

And this wasn’t the usual kind of kiss they would share. It wasn’t a quick peck on the cheek or a brief, chaste kiss on the lips. This was a kiss. With passion and embracing and lots of tongue. Then they broke apart and looked at each other and kissed again. And again and again and again and after what seemed like a hundred kisses Maya gasped out, “I love you so much”.

The look on Phoenix’s face, something halfway between relief and pure unadulterated joy melted Maya into a puddle. “I love you too” he said and she knew that he meant it with every fiber of his being.

And suddenly they were pulling each other’s clothes off and he was throwing her down on the bed and when he had a little moment of hesitation to ask if she was okay with this she answered him by pulling him right down with her and they were in love, both of them so deeply in love and showing it in every way they could.

Phoenix wrapped her legs with his and nestled his chin in the crook of her neck. He was stroking his warm hands down her body(reminding her once again how naked they both were).

“You are so beautiful,” he said, and she once again believed him wholeheartedly, “I’m so so lucky.”

It was now or never, she thought.

“Mmm, Nick, you know, I never got to finish my argument.”

Phoenix paused for a split second, then went back to stroking her leg.

“I was just saying, you know,” she said, nuzzling his head with hers, “We use words to describe what things are, how they work. If you can say a word and have people picture what you’re talking about, then the word did its job, right?”

“Mmhmm”

“So when I say the word ‘ladder’, you’re gonna picture a big tall thing.”

She kissed him once on the cheek.

“With lots of rungs.”

Another kiss.

“That you can climb to get high up.”

Three more kisses.

“And maybe you’ll be picturing a normal wooden ladder. Maybe it’ll be made of metal or rope. And maybe it’ll have steps. But the word ‘ladder’ fits all of them.”

She had twisted herself around to face him now, wrapping her arms around his waist as she gazed into his baby blues.

“So really, Nick, even if it is a stepladder, it’s stupid to always correct me, because ‘ladder’ is already a good enough word.”

“That’s a good point, Maya, but sometimes words can’t tell you everything. There will never be enough words in the world to describe how much I love you.”

Maya couldn’t argue with that. She didn’t really know if it actually addressed her argument, but she didn’t care. The way he said it, the way her best friend, her lover, her Nick, talked about her made her feel like it was the most true thing anyone had ever said.

She rested her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes, and melted into him, putting the argument to rest. He could have the win today.

She’d think of a rebuttal for next time.

[tcvsfiredemon]

Narumayo Week Day 3: Video Games/Pining

“Maya, I’m stuck in a wall!”

“You’re what?” she called from the kitchen with the tone of a mother who just caught her kids emptying a bag of flour onto the dining room floor.

Phoenix twiddled desperately with the thumbsticks, but to no avail. His character just twirled back and forth, glued tragically in place on the TV screen.

“There were a bunch of bad guys surrounding me so I was backing away from them,” he yelled to her by way of explanation, “but now I can’t get out of the corner of the room!”

“How does this keep happening to you?” Maya said as she emerged, oven-mitted hands on hips and an expression of sheer bewilderment on her face. Her hair was loose and she was wearing a pair of baggy purple pajama bottoms with a white tank top, over which she’d tied a big pink apron that said ‘WORLD’S CUTEST CHEF’, a piece that Trucy had insisted was a must-buy. “I leave you alone for two minutes to make dinner and you defy the laws of physics on me.”

Phoenix snorted a little at her getup. ‘Making dinner’ in this case constituted popping open a bag of premade salad into a bowl and putting a frozen pizza in the oven. The apron was definitely overkill.

“I’m not trying to break the game, Maya, I have no idea how any of this works!”

She sighed and peeled off the mitts as she approached, stretching out her hand to ask him for the controller. “I’ll get you out of this, Nick.”

Obediently, he handed the device over. Failing embarrassingly at video games hadn’t been exactly what he’d envisioned when they planned their evening. Trucy had been invited to a friend’s house for her first ever sleepover and had convinced Pearl to come along(not that she needed much convincing), so the two adults of the Wright Talent Agency had their first opportunity in quite some time to spend the night in the office together without kids. She had immediately suggested a game night, which he assumed meant Scrabble or something, not the high-octane zombie killing quest he was now embarked upon.

He watched as Maya tried as pointlessly as he had to unstick herself from the wall. “Wow, Nick, you really screwed up. Only one way to get out of this one.” She started throwing grenade after grenade until a massive explosion ushered in the game over screen.

“You got me killed.”

“Don’t worry, old man, you’ll respawn. Outside the wall, I hope.” Maya looked back at him with a smirk, “I just don’t get it. You’re only 27, but you have the gaming skills of a retired economics teacher.”

“I haven’t played a video game since I was a kid, okay. And why an economics teacher?”

“I dunno, it just sounds like the most boring kind of teacher.”

Onscreen, their character respawned, right in the middle of a big horde of zombies. Phoenix went white, and Maya looked at him with pity.

“Do you want me to handle them for you?”

He nodded.

“All right, I’ll show you how it’s done.”

With that, Maya commenced a one woman undead massacre. As it went on, Phoenix found his vision slipping away from the game and onto the player. Maya was absolutely enchanting to watch when she was fixated on a task. She was incredibly animated, dancing around the room like she was actually in there with the zombies, her gaze never straying from the screen. She would occasionally pause to brush her bangs out of her eyes in a quick, delicate motion that sent shivers down his spine. Adorably, the harder she concentrated the more she would stick out her tongue like some cartoon character. And, sitting behind her as he was, he couldn’t help but notice that her baggy pajama pants weren’t quite as baggy around her butt.

Phoenix put an end to that thought trail as soon as he headed down it, just like he would any time his thoughts of Maya took a sexual turn, something that he found happening more and more these days. It wasn’t necessarily that he was uncomfortable seeing Maya as sexy, anyone with eyes could see that she was an attractive woman, but he was finding it increasingly difficult to compartmentalize those feelings with his feelings for her as a friend and loved one.

Like in the past he could reminisce just fine about all the cases they’d solved together, all the fun outings they’d had with just the two of them, or with Trucy, or with Pearl, or with the four of them together, and he’d feel the same kind of love he felt for his family, or for Edgeworth or Larry. But lately, when he tried to think back about something like the picnic they had at Gourd Lake last weekend, all the happy memories of sitting in the sun, munching on ice cream sandwiches, watching Trucy and Pearl play a two-person game of tag, and debating whether Gourdy came from the Jurassic or the Cretaceous period got mixed together with thoughts about the way Maya’s hair looked when the wind blew through it, or the way her eyes sparkled like sapphires in the sunlight, or the way her sundress swished around her curves as she walked, or how much of her thigh he could see when a really big gust of wind blew at her dress.

And now Phoenix had to cut his thought short again, because he didn’t want to go down that path again. He didn’t want to admit to himself that how much he loved Maya’s presence in his life was becoming so intertwined with how much he wanted her. He didn’t want to want her. He had decided long ago that Maya was the person he loved most in the world, but if he found that he loved her that way and she didn’t feel the same, he didn’t think his heart could handle it. Better to just keep things the way they’d always been, where Maya was his best friend and he did his best to ignore how well her pajama pants showed off her assets.

“You still with us, Nick?”

Phoenix snapped back into the real world. Maya had finished her work, leaving a pile of zombie bodies in her wake. She was looking at him quizzically.

“Yeah, I’m here. Good job, Maya!”

“I do my best,” she said, handing him back the controller, “You can take it from here.”

“Thanks.”

She splashed onto the couch right next to him and he once again tried not to blush at how close she was. Focus on the game, Phoenix.

“So what were you thinking about? Off in your own little world there.”

“Pajamas.”

Phoenix watched as his character turned the corner into a new room and a monster leapt at him from the ceiling, killing him in two big hits. The two of them stared blankly at the game over screen.

“You wanna just watch a movie, Nick?”

“Yes please.”

[tcvsfiredemon]

Narumayo Week Day 2: Investigations/Caretaking

When Phoenix sneezed it sounded like his entire life force was escaping his body. Maya had learned over the past couple days to get out of his way when he drew in a long, ragged breath, because what came next was a gale force wind of hot air and snot that would inevitably end up in her hair. Luckily he’d graciously waited until they were off the bike to really let loose. A sneeze like that, Maya could understand why medieval people thought demons were responsible.

“Nick, are you sure you wanna do this investigation today? You should probably be sleeping the cold away.”

“It’s fine, Maya. I’ve worked sicker than this before.”

“Have you?”

In the three years she’d spent as Phoenix’s assistant she’d never seen him with so much as a sore throat. Sure he was a major klutz and had been nearly hit by cars on four separate occasions, but for all intents and purposes Phoenix’s body was a temple. The universe must have finally decided to exact its karmic revenge by unleashing the cold to end all colds just days before their latest case.

Really, Maya had hoped this would be a breather for Phoenix, a nice simple robbery case after the whole Xin Eohp saga and all that crazy stuff in England before that. Then Phoenix woke up yesterday with a fever of 102, a splitting headache, and enough congestion to choke an elephant. He had insisted even then that he could work that day, but she’d forced him to stay in bed while she ran around town getting interviews and taking notes, desperately hoping she wasn’t botching the whole thing.

He was feeling better today, but not by much, and while she couldn’t argue that he wasn’t usually better at scoping out the crime scene than she was, the way he was hobbling around with a zombie and making a visible effort to avoid sneezing wasn’t making her very optimistic.

“Just don’t push yourself as hard as usual, okay?”

“I don’t push myself that hard.”

“Nick, have you actually met yourself before?”

They were standing at the door to the upscale apartment of Cynthia Aster, self-help author and (at least until recently) owner of the rare Aster Ruby. She and the defendant, Patrick Xi, were in some weird secret society together, and Aster had let it slip to him that she kept the ruby sealed in a can of diced tomatoes in her pantry. Within days the pantry had been ransacked, the ruby had been stolen, and several perfectly good cans of tomatoes had gone to waste.

As Maya and Phoenix crossed the threshold into the apartment, the first thing she deduced was that this woman was pretty loaded. The place was spacious, all laid out in a weird modern architectural style with no walls and every room at a different height. The stairs that separated them had no railings, which struck Maya as a pretty serious design flaw, but then she wasn’t an architect or anything. There was also a distinct theme to the decor.

All around the place were paintings, photos, statues of hands. Left hands specifically. Words of inspiration were scattered all over the wall, all specifically about being left handed. Maya wasn’t sure what was on the bookshelves, but she wouldn’t be surprised if Ms. Aster carefully vetted them to make sure the authors wrote the manuscripts with their left hand.

“Talk about making one trait your whole personality, huh?”

“Remember, Ms. Aster and Mr. Xi met in a club for left-handed people. You don’t join a club like that unless you’re really committed.”

“Maybe you should join a club for people with spiky hair, Nick. You’re definitely committed to that look.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Maya frowned a bit. Usually Phoenix would have snapped back with some comment about her joining a topknot club or something (which would have obviously been inaccurate, because she had a super cute hair bun, not a topknot). He was clearly off his game.

“So, where to first? We can see it all from right here.”

Phoenix seemed to snap out of a daze. Again, not a great sign. He was often the inattentive type, but never during an investigation.

“I guess we should start with the pantry, where the crime took place.”

“Great, let’s go!”

The pantry, much to Maya’s delight, was an actual room, with walls and a door and everything. It was filled wall to wall with cans of everything that could possibly be canned. Soup, beans, fruit, vegetables, pie fillings, even a few stray cans of bread(ew). You could totally build a fort out of all this. In the corner 

“Wow, this is a room a doomsday prepper would have.”

Phoenix rubbed his temples with his fingers. “Yeah, I think a lot of these cans might have been decoys to keep people from finding the one with the ruby in it.”

“Such a weird plan to hide a gem in a tomato can, huh? Seems pretty out of left field to me!”

She turned to give him a silly look, but he didn’t react at all. She would’ve expected at least a groan in response to such an egregious pun.

“Yeah, I guess…I guess…”

Phoenix took in a big gasp of air and Maya ducked for cover as another massive sneeze erupted out of her friend’s mouth. She looked at him, still dazed, and put her hands on her hips.

“All right, that’s it. We’re taking a break.”

“Huh?”

“I’m gonna make you some soup.”

“Soup? What?”

She was already hard at work digging through the wall of cans to find something good. Some of the soups had sell-by dates of over five years ago, so Phoenix’s assumption that they might be decoys was probably correct. Eventually, she found something that looked good.

“Here! Cream of mushroom!”

“Maya! You can’t just make soup at a crime scene!”

“Who’s gonna stop us? We know the chief of police.”

“Okay, but–”

She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him up to the kitchen. No way in hell was she going to let Phoenix make himself sicker over some lame jewel thief. She sat him down at the kitchen table and ran over to search for a pot and a can opener.

“Just sit there and rest for a bit, Nick. I’m gonna help you feel better.”

“Maya, everything in this apartment is evidence. We’re tampering with evidence”

“And I’m about to serve you up some fresh, hot, savory evidence in just a second!”

Luckily there was a can opener right on the counter, which she put to quick work. She found a saucepan pretty quickly as well, and after futzing around with the high-tech stove for a bit, she had a good pot of soup on the boil. Over at the kitchen table, Phoenix was sneezing up a storm.

“That’s good, Nick, let it all out.”

“You sound like my mom,” Phoenix groaned

“No talking back, young man,” Maya chirped back, tapping the wooden spoon against her hand in a mock-stern way, “close your eyes and the soup will come to you.”

In a few minutes, she’d prepared a nice hot bowl of soup, served in a beautiful china dish that they definitely weren’t supposed to be touching. Holding the bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other, she straddled Phoenix and brought the warm liquid toward his mouth.

“Here comes the airplane.”

Phoenix’s head bolted up. “Nope, you’re not baby birding me. That’s where I’m drawing the line.”

Maya jumped off him, her face heating up. Yeah, that was maybe a bit too much. She carefully set the bowl down and handed him the spoon. He took a spoonful and let out the most satisfying sigh she’d heard from him all day.

“Okay, that’s really good.”

She sat down next to him and happily watched him eat. He looked so cute shoveling the soup down with the dainty little spoon she’d found. When he was done he leaned back in his chair, satisfied.

“Feel better?”

“So much.”

Suddenly, Phoenix’s eyes opened wide. “Maya, how did you open the soup can?”

“What? Uh, there was a can opener on the counter.”

“Was it hard to use or anything?”

“Not really? I’ve used can openers before, you know.”

He rushed over to inspect the utensil, then quickly started searching through all the drawers in the kitchen until he found what he was looking for and held it up for her to see.

“Another can opener?”

“A left handed can opener! The one you used was a regular one. Which means…”

“It doesn’t actually belong to Ms. Aster,” Maya gasped, “The thief must have brought his own to get the ruby!”

“And since Mr. Xi is left handed as well…”

“The thief couldn’t have been him! Nick, you figured it out!”

Phoenix blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “Well, we’ll probably need to find a bit more evidence to get the full picture, but it’s a start.”

“Then let’s get to it!” Maya exclaimed, fists pumping and stars in her eyes.

“Okay, but first I have to…have to…”

Phoenix took in a long, ragged breath and Maya jumped for cover.

[tcvsfiredemon]

Narumayo Week Day 1: Waterfalls/Reunions

Phoenix had bought flowers, which was unusual for him. He tended to actively avoid taking any sort of responsibility for plants, with the one exception of Charley. Even then, it was purely through luck and Maya’s intervention(and now a little extra help from Trucy, thank heaven) that Mia’s favorite piece of greenery wasn’t a brown and shriveled husk at this point. Whatever the opposite of a green thumb was, Phoenix surely had it.

Yet as he’d made his way to the train station this morning his eye had been caught by a stall out front selling a whole rainbow’s worth of beautiful flowers, and something deep inside him compelled him to buy a whole bouquet of purple ones. Some kind of orchids, he thought? Although they could have just as easily been tulips or something. Really he’d just bought them because they were purple and purple was Maya’s favorite color.

Would she even care about getting flowers? In terms of gifts Maya tended to prefer things with more use to her like clothes or games or food. Especially food. Phoenix had brought food, of course, a big hearty order of Eldoon’s famous breakfast ramen that he desperately hoped hadn’t cooled down too much during the two hour train ride. He felt like he needed to give her something else, though, something to show how truly sorry he was for being such a crappy friend and not talking to her for the past two months. Were flowers enough? Was this whole surprise visit a mistake?

But regardless of what kind of spur-of-the-moment decision-making had led him to where he was, Phoenix was there all the same, standing outside the door to the Fey’s family home at nine in the morning with a big bouquet of orchids in one arm and a big brown bag of food in the other. Realizing a little too late his logistical mistake he knocked as firmly as he could with his foot. Within a minute the door slid open and the tiny, surprised face of Pearl Fey poked through.

“Mr. Nick?” the small girl exclaimed with a smile that quickly turned into an angry frown, “You said some real mean things to Mystic Maya.”

She was right, of course. Phoenix had been in a bad place the last time he saw his spirit medium best friend. After hearing the news about his disbarment Maya had rushed into the city as quickly as she could, only to be turned away at his door. You weren’t there for me when I needed you, he’d spat at her, why would I want you here now? Phoenix cringed internally at the cruel verbal beatdown he’d given the person he loved more than anyone else in the world, who had dropped everything just to be there for him in his time of need.

“I know, Pearls, I said a lot of hurtful things that I can’t take back and that’s why I came to see her. To make things up to her and show her how sorry I am. Is she here?”

Immediately the expression on Pearl’s face thawed a little, with the tiniest hint of a smile drawing up the corner of her mouth.

“Mystic Maya told me you didn’t really mean those things. She said you’d say sorry as soon as you could.”

She gave a sudden gasp of delight, putting her hands on her face to hide her blush. “But she didn’t tell me you’d come all the way here to say it! And with flowers! You must have had one of those ‘lovers’ quarrels’!”

Phoenix’s hands were a little too full to hide his own blush. “N-no, Pearls, it’s not like that! Friends give each other flowers too. To show how much they care about each other. Where is Maya, by the way? She’s not asleep, is she?”

“Mystic Maya’s doing her morning meditation in the waterfall in the sacred grove. I don’t think she’s supposed to be interrupted… But for you, Mr. Nick, she won’t mind!”

Phoenix nodded. “Okay, sacred grove, huh? That shouldn’t be too hard to find! Thanks for the help, Pearls!”

They waved each other goodbye, she with her hand and he with his foot, and he set off to find the sacred grove, wherever that was. Hopefully Kurain Village would have some kind of big map to help him find his way around. His mind fully on the task at hand, Phoenix failed to hear Pearl yelling behind him, “Wait, Mr. Nick! I forgot something about Mystic Maya’s meditation!”

***

There was, unfortunately, no tourist-friendly signage to help Phoenix along his way. After a bit of trial and error he found his way to a forest path that seemed fairly grove-y to him, flanked by stone statues that Phoenix judged to look pretty sacred. Before too long he could hear the rushing current of a waterfall and he knew he was on the right track.

It really was a beautiful vista, full of ethereal trees, lush greenery, and a brilliant view of the mountains. At one point he could have sworn he saw a white deer zip out of sight. Even after nearly four years of knowing Maya he couldn’t believe that she got to grow up in this magical fairyland. Although he supposed even the most beautiful view could get boring if you see it every day.

After a little more walking a lovely clearing came into view, full of lush green grass and brightly colored flowers. Phoenix inspected them for a bit to make sure they weren’t the same ones from his bouquet. At the other end of the clearing was a clear pool beneath a waterfall where Maya sat in meditation. She looked totally at home under the water, eyes closed, relaxed…and completely naked.

Phoenix went cherry red as soon as he registered what he was seeing. Suddenly he recalled that Pearl had been yelling at him as he left to find Maya. This must be what she wanted to tell him. Maya was obviously doing some kind of meditation technique that required the user to take off all their clothes. And with her legs folded under her and her arms at her side, Phoenix could see her whole…her…

He tore his eyes away as fast as he could and tried to figure out a way to make his presence known in a way that wouldn’t be insanely awkward. Finding no obvious solution, he decided to just rip the bandaid off and shout “MAYA!”

“Nick?” she yelled back excitedly, followed by a horrified shriek and a scream of, “Don’t look at me!”

“I’m not looking!”

“Hold on, let me get dressed! Don’t you dare sneak a peek! What are you doing here, Nick?”

“I haven’t seen you in months. I thought I’d pay you a visit. And trust me, I’m not trying to look at you naked.”

“Well then, how did you know I was naked if you didn’t look?”

“Okay, I saw you for a second, realized you were naked, and looked away immediately. Happy? Plus I think your reaction would have given you away even if I hadn’t seen.”

“Not necessarily, Nick, I could have been wearing something really embarrassing like a fursuit or something. You can look now, by the way.”

Phoenix turned to see Maya squeezing the water out of her hair. She wasn’t wearing her usual robes, but what looked like a thin white bathrobe. Probably some sort of training uniform. She was still dripping wet and the fabric clung to her body in a way that didn’t lessen his blush at all.

“What’s a fursuit?” he asked, trying to distract himself from the situation that was boiling his blood into tomato soup, “Like a big winter coat or something?”

Maya put a hand on her chest and grinned. “Oh, you sweet summer child. I’ll explain later. Whatcha got for me?”

Her eyes locked onto the big brown bag emblazoned with the Eldoon’s logo and he could see her mouth begin to water immediately.

“A couple orders of the breakfast ramen, hopefully not too cold. Extra maple syrup for you, of course.” He handed the bag her way and she grabbed it greedily.

“Ugh, Nick, you have no idea how much the noodles here suck. It’s basically like eating string. And when I talk about putting syrup on them everyone looks at me like I have two heads.”

“To be fair, syrup on noodles is pretty weird everywhere in the world but Eldoon’s.”

Maya was getting ready to tear into the bag when she spotted what was in Phoenix’s other hand. With a gasp she dropped the food and rushed to wrap him in a crushing hug and plant a kiss on his lips, getting him completely soaked in the process.

“Oh my god, no one’s ever gotten me flowers before!” she exclaimed, on the verge of tears. When she let go of her hold Phoenix handed her the bouquet and she took a big sniff. “They’re gorgeous! How did you know I love lavender?”

“Uh, to be honest I just got them–”

“Because they were purple, right? You big dork.”

She punched him in the arm and then wrapped it in hers. Phoenix had accepted at this point that wet clothes were a fair trade for a happy Maya. She looked up at him with an expression he couldn’t quite parse.

“You know I’m still mad at you, right?”

“I don’t blame you.”

“Of course you don’t, you were an absolute bastard that night and you know it. I hated you for a good week after that. I tried to put on a brave face for Pearly, but as soon as I was alone in my room I cried my eyes out. Do you know how devastating that is? To have someone you think is your best friend tell you that they don’t ever want to see you anymore? And then just stop talking to you for two whole months?”

She squeezed down so hard on Phoenix’s arm that he had to suppress a yelp.

“Maya, I’m so sorry.”

“I know you are, Phoenix. I know you were sorry as soon as you closed that door in my face. I know you stood there wanting to take it all back but decided not to say anything because you didn’t think I deserved a friend who was capable of saying the things you said. That you spent the next two months telling yourself that us not seeing each other was for the best even though every instinct you had fought against that. And that’s why I couldn’t hate you as much as I tried. Because no matter what words fly out of your mouth when you’re in pain, no matter how many times you tell yourself you aren’t worthy of love, you’re Phoenix Wright, and you’re my best fucking friend in the whole world.”

Maya detached herself from Phoenix and turned to face him, the flowers still firmly in her hands. They said nothing for what seemed like minutes. Then he finally spoke.

“Maya, did…did you rehearse that speech?”

A smile spread on Maya’s face.

“Shut up, dork.”

Phoenix started to break into a grin as well. It was physically impossible not to smile when Maya Fey was smiling. “No, I mean seriously, how much time did you spend in front of the mirror getting every word just right.”

“It’s not funny, you asshole.” Maya snorted.

“Then why are you laughin’, kid?”

“Because I’m too hungry to think straight. Come on, Nick, let’s make with the noodles. And you can tell me about this Trucy that I keep hearing Edgeworth talk about.”

“Oh man, you’re gonna love Trucy…”

And just like that, everything was right with the world. At least for now.

***

“Okay, but I really do need to finish up my meditation for the day.”

Their breakfast long finished, Phoenix and Maya were lying together in the grass, heads next to each other, attempting to decipher the clouds in the sky. Maya had been eager to hear as much about Trucy as she could and insisted on going to her next magic show(and bringing Pearl along, of course). Phoenix had taken as many opportunities as he could to sneak apologies in, with Maya magnanimously batting them all aside as ‘water under the bridge’.

“You sure about that? You just finished drying off.”

“Yup, I’m pretty sure. Some of us have jobs, Nick, and mine is to be as good at spirit channeling as I possibly can be.” She pushed herself up off the ground. “And sometimes that means sitting buck naked under a cold waterfall for an uninterrupted hour.”

Phoenix sat up, hearing his back crack as he did so. “You mean you have to start over again.”

“Uh, yeah, old man, meditation isn’t really something you pause halfway through and pick up later.” She cocked her head at him. “You know, if you want to, you can join me this time. I can teach you how to clear your mind.”

“Will I have to be…uh…”

“Yep, unfortunately. As the day you were born. On the bright side, though,” she said, leaning in with a devilish look on her face, “I will be too.”

“Well, uh,” stammered Phoenix, whose blush had gone as purple as the flowers, “I guess I could try it…”

He hoped beyond hope that Pearl never got wind of this.