Winter has always been difficult for Miles Edgeworth. December in particular had it's fair share of difficulties and annoyances; holidays, the flu, the cold. Nightmares, unbearable sadness, and an anniversary Miles would often rather forget.
It's good then, that his family always seems to know the best ways to cheer him up.
Miles jerked awake, breathing hard. He groaned, running a hand across his face, and sat up. That stupid dream again. Would he ever be free of it? It had been almost thirty years. Three decades! He'd known the truth for nearly as long as he'd believed the idiotic lie his mind kept telling him! And yet the dream continued to haunt him every December.
Miles felt the bed shift beside him and looked down. Phoenix had one sleepy eye open, a hand on his thigh.
"You ok?" he asked, stifling a yawn. His hair was sticking up at all sorts of odd angles, and he had a small pool of drool at the corner of his mouth. Miles couldn't help but smile.
"Just a bad dream, love. Winter and all that," he said softly. "You go back to sleep."
Phoenix hummed, eyes closing for a moment as Miles leaned down to press a kiss to his temple. He rolled onto his back and sat up, hands pressing against the small of his back in a vain attempt to get it to pop. He didn't manage to suppress the second yawn this time, instead taking a moment to blink tiredly at his husband.
"I'm not the one with a trial coming up, babe. I can stand a few hours of lost sleep. Pancakes?" he offered. Miles bit his lip, glancing at the alarm clock to his other side. 2:47 am. That was a decent enough time for breakfast, wasn't it? Miles sighed, looking back at Phoenix.
"Alright. I'll start coffee. Try not to wake the children, alright?" he said, tugging the blanket off his lap and sliding on a pair of slippers. He heard Phoenix snort at his request.
Together they tiptoed their way out of their room and down the hallway towards the stairs. Phoenix lingered outside Trucy's door for a moment, just listening to her breathe. Miles wouldn't admit it, but he did the same outside Kay's. She'd been bouncing off the walls since they'd picked her up from the airport that morning, apparently anxious about some sort of announcement. Miles would put good money on it being related to Detective Skye's own anxieties. He'd been getting complaints from more than one prosecutor about being "snackoo'd" by her.
They moved downstairs and into the kitchen, pausing a moment to share a brief kiss under the mistletoe Pearl had insisted they hang above the entry. Christmas was...well, today, technically speaking. The tree sat in one corner of the living room, all red and blue lights and multicolored baubles. He'd helped Trucy put up the (truly ridiculous) star just the day before, when everyone had been opening their gifts from Phoenix's gaggle of friends and former clients (how he'd maintained contact with Will Powers over the last ten years, Miles would never know. At least he was never in want of rare Steel Samurai merchandise).
Miles changed out the grounds and set the coffee pot to brew, then dragged out a chair and sat at the kitchen island, watching Phoenix hum as he set about gathering bowls and pans and all manner of ingredients. He let the peace of the moment wash over him, eyes drifting closed for a fraction of a second before snapping them open again. Right. The dream. He sighed, slumping against the counter and burying his face in his arms.
"We can put off seeing him, Miles."
He looked up, catching Phoenix studying him. Miles shook his head. "You say that every year, and every year I agree, and we never end up going. It's been twenty-eight years, Phoenix. I need to visit my father. Whether I want to or not."
Phoenix frowned, and turned back to the bowl of batter he was preparing. "You know," he said, "you could always ask Maya or Pearls to channel him. It might give you some kind of closure."
"I've told you before, I don't want to. The man deserves his rest, especially this close to…to…"
"The anniversary of his death," Phoenix finished. Miles sighed.
"Yes. That. I know it's unbecoming of me, really I do, but I just...I can't, Phoenix. So instead I am going to pick up the flowers we ordered, and I am going to see him, and you -" he pointed a finger at Phoenix, "-are going to join me while I do. Franziska has already agreed to keep an eye on Trucy for us, and Apollo is due to return to Khura'in for that case he's working on. I imagine Kay is going to be quite busy with Ema, if I've guessed right about why she's been so nervous."
"And Sebastian has that concert to prepare for," Phoenix sighed, "I know. I just…you don't have to go if you aren't ready to, Miles."
Miles sighed again. He'd been doing that a lot the last hour, hadn't he? So rather than respond he stared into the middle distance and let the sound of sizzling pancake batter drown out every thought his brain tried to form.
A plate of fresh pancakes slid into place in front of him a few minutes later, drawing him out of his dissociative state. Phoenix had made a smiley face out of the blueberries he'd put into them, and as silly as it was, it made Miles smile. His father had done that, before everything had gone wrong. Saturday morning cartoons and smiley face pancakes. He looked up at Phoenix, a sad smile tugging at his lips.
"I don't think I'll ever really be ready, darling. So I should just go, hm? You'll be there with me after all, and we'll visit Mia too."
Phoenix smiled softly and leaned forward to press a kiss to his forehead.
"You two are so gross," came a voice near the stairs. Kay stood in the kitchen entry, leaning against the wall. She pushed off of it, moving to hop up onto the island counter, attempting to steal Miles' pancakes.
"And just why aren't you asleep, Kay?" he asked, pushing them out of her reach. She pouted at him, then turned her ridiculous puppy dog eyes on Phoenix. He sighed and started fixing another plate for her.
"I could smell the pancakes, duh. You old men having a party without me? I'm hurt," she said. Miles rolled his eyes.
"Sit in a chair like a normal human being please, Kay. And we weren't having a party, we were...talking about Friday," Miles said.
Kay's eyes widened, letting out a quiet "oh". She obediently moved to one of the chairs, pulling it closer to Miles so she could lean against him. He welcomed the contact, wrapping an arm around her. They fell silent again, Phoenix continuing to make pancakes for a while. Finally, Kay spoke.
"I'm gonna ask Ema to marry me."
Miles smiled, catching his husband's eye. Phoenix rolled his in response.
"I'm happy for you," he said.
Kay sat up so she could look him in the eye.
"September or December?" she asked.
"Pardon?"
"The wedding. Should we hold it in September, or in December? If it's okay with you I mean."
Miles blinked, then shared a look with Phoenix. Was...was she asking if…
"The 28th should be a happier day for you, Miles. I'm sure Ema would agree. Is it ok with you if we get married then?"
Miles meant to respond, truly he did, but all that came out was a soft sob. He closed his mouth, nodding instead. Kay broke into a grin and flung her arms around his neck in a bone crushing hug. He returned it, tears rolling slowly down his cheeks as he looked up at Phoenix, lost.
He'd like to celebrate another kind of anniversary on the 28th. Why not his daughter's wedding anniversary? His father would have liked that, watching Miles walk Kay down the aisle.
Phoenix grinned, walking up behind Kay to press another kiss to Miles' forehead.
"Merry Christmas, Miles," he said, and well. Merry Christmas indeed.
Oh boy. Tech anon here again, I didn't realize you weren't taking headcannon requests so I'm so sorry for that! But what you wrote made me want Tech more than ever before. I love you.
OMGOMGOGM No DO NOT be sorry! I only added that so people didn't send in more after I posted. Because I will get flooded with them lol but I am always happy to oblige my favorite anon 😘
