Work Text:
No one ever expected Summer in Los Angeles to be a walk in the park. That being said, Phoenix had spent most of his life in that noisy city, and so he liked to believe he’d become something of an expert at surviving its sweltering heat without air conditioning. Back in the heyday of the Wright and Co. Law Offices, he would be doing paperwork in 85-degree heat, with just a pedestal fan to support him and Maya.
But in the current day, in the newly revitalized Wright Anything Agency, he couldn’t claim that the fog dulling his mind was making the defense request in his hand very easy to read.
“Ugh, this stupid heat!” Athena threw her paperwork on the desk and started frantically wiping at her neck. “The sweat’s getting in my eyes. I can’t even read!” She complained loudly, and Widget echoed her frustration with his own ‘Stupid heatwave!’.
“Look, we’re all dealing with it.” Apollo, who was sorting through his notes, acted nonchalant about the weather despite the bullets of sweat running down his forehead. “Maybe go splash your face with water or something? It helped me, at least.” It was more like the young attorney had dunked his head into the bathtub. Apollo was an odd sight with no antennas protruding above his head.
With a defeated sigh, Athena tore her tie off with disdain and walked to the bathroom. Other workplaces might have had a problem with this reckless attitude toward their dress code, but Phoenix himself was in a polo shirt and tugging at his collar to get more air. Everyone in the office was in the same boat. Actually, everyone in Los Angeles was dealing with the heatwave in the exact same way.
Case in point: Miles had started wearing a single layer of clothing to work.
A few weeks back, the prosecutor still wore the frilly thing around his neck, but even that wasn't seen anymore. To make matters worse, the dress shirts Miles put on weren’t even white. They were the exact color of his usual suit, and they fit snugly around his frame, accentuating the parameters of his shoulders and maybe also his chest…
If Phoenix could make a confession right here right now, it was that the heatwave wasn’t the source of the fog in his head. It was the fact that the AC unit at home broke down at the start of the week, and that he was being subjected to the sight of his husband lounging in shockingly revealing clothes. Anyone who knew Miles Edgeworth would have already considered seeing the man’s bare neck to border on nudity, but it had gotten so much worse. Phoenix had to witness Miles wearing a sleeveless turtleneck while getting groceries on the weekend. The sight alone knocked him out for the rest of that day. Today, he was also contending with the two buttons his husband left undone on his pleated shirt before he left for work.
“Here you go, Boss!” Athena offered him a cold drink, looking refreshed after having presumably put her head under the faucet. “I have to say, I’m picking up on some crazy readings from you today.” She grinned dubiously, causing Phoenix to flinch as he accepted the drink.
“Haha, yeah?” He opened the can with one hand and took a sip, letting the fizzy liquid help cool him down. “I can’t imagine what Widget is saying.” Overheated? Mortified? Sexually frustrated?
“Actually, the discord in your voice sounds a lot like you want to cry.” She sat on the couch opposite him, her gaze shifting into a concerned one as she downed her soda. “I’ve been picking up hints of it for a few weeks now, but today just seems like it’s not your day.”
Well, wanting to cry was one way of putting it.
Couples usually dealt with this type of thing pretty easily. It was a simple conversation like ‘Hey, Miles. I think you look great in a tank top. Can you please wear that while going down on me tonight?’ and the usual answer was something like ‘Yes, I find that acceptable. In other news, I believe it is your turn to do the laundry.’ Simple, and like many other conversations they have had in the past. But there were two problems facing that solution:
First, Phoenix was working as a full-time attorney again. With two employees who were his responsibility to keep fed, and cases that often stole his weekends, finding free time that fit both his and his husband’s schedule had become a little tricky, especially with how meticulous Miles was about his bedroom preparations.
Second, when they were able to find the free time to have sex, it was always the super discreet kind. Phoenix would be lucky to give or receive a handjob most days, and anal was pretty much out of the question. The two of them weren’t even necessarily loud or disruptive, but they happened to be parents to the world’s most perceptive teenage girl, and they couldn’t help freaking out over the slightest creak of the bed whenever they started anything.
Phoenix sighed, letting his cheek rest against his palm. “It’s some stuff at home, but it’s nothing serious.” He eventually answered Athena. Giving her something of a reply was better than clamming shut and getting interrogated by their self-appointed therapist.
The girl tilted her head, her brows furrowing with curiosity. “Is it another problem with Mr. Edgeworth?”
“–who I still don’t believe you’re married to,” Apollo interjected from his desk, causing Phoenix to snort.
“Hey, sometimes I can’t believe it myself!” He happily recalled how Apollo’s jaw had dropped to the floor—along with the coffee he was drinking—on the day he told him what the engraved ‘E’ on his ring stood for.
“Because it’s not believable.” Apollo turned in his rotating chair and pointed to Athena with his pen. “Mark my words, we’re going to meet this mysterious spouse one day, and it'll turn out to be Mr. Edgeworth’s sister or something.” The kid said with complete confidence, making Phoenix choke on his drink.
He immediately knew that this amazing conversation was going straight to Miles and Trucy at the dinner table.
Speaking of food, it was his husband’s turn to cook that day. He and his daughter usually made bets on how dinner would turn out. It's usually ready before Phoenix returned home, so the options are either ‘decently edible’ or ‘he tossed it and ordered takeout for us’. Given that it was a busy Tuesday, Phoenix was betting on takeout.
With that little thought, he hauled his juniors back to work and focused on trying to make it home early.
Phoenix almost dropped his bag at the sight of the man who opened the door for him.
“Miles, put something on!!” He rushed in, pushing his husband inside and frantically closing the door. Despite the defense attorney’s panic, his partner only regarded him with confusion.
Miles was wearing that pink frilly apron of his, and he looked like he was wearing nothing else. All that Phoenix could see of the prosecutor that wasn't covered by that apron was skin. His collarbones, his shoulders, his legs; all clear, pale and making him feel dirty for staring.
“I am not sure of what compelled you to think otherwise…” Miles crossed his arms—and oh god why did his chest have to get fuller like that? “–but I am fully clothed, Wright.” And as though to prove it, his husband turned around to show him the back. Miles was wearing a black tank top and sports shorts, as if that in any way qualified as ‘fully clothed’.
“Oh, uh…” Phoenix tried.
“I hurried to the kitchen after taking a shower,” Miles explained, unconcerned. “Do forgive the immodesty.” With those parting words, the man walked off, apparently not caring to hear his response.
Phoenix could, of course, forgive the immodesty. What he couldn't forgive was the AC technician thinking that their household could endure this for the rest of the week.
The shock of cold water was the perfect refreshing and unsexy sensation he needed that day. After taking his shower, he put on pants like a normal person and sat drying his hair in his room. They had been surviving at home without AC by using the fans from his old apartment and leaving all of the windows open. Phoenix couldn’t even complain about the temperature with those adjustments. The house almost felt bigger with the pleasant breeze passing through it.
The real problem was Miles and his European roots. His husband was visibly the most affected by the heat, seeming fatigued and flustered by it wherever he sat, and being too classy to let himself sweat like any other human being.
After Phoenix put his clothes on and went downstairs, he found Miles still in the kitchen. His husband stood wiping his brow and exhaling heavily. Watching it, Phoenix felt bad that his focus was on the curves of the other’s biceps as he did the motion, rather than his sympathy for the man.
“Need any help?” Phoenix walked in as he asked, silently mourning the loss of the cool, refreshing sensation his shower had left him with. “It’s taking you a little longer than usual today.”
His husband glanced at him through his tousled bangs, then brought his attention back to the onions he was cutting. “I left work rather late and had to stop for groceries.” Miles sniffled, and Phoenix watched his knife work, noting with some pride that it was becoming more consistent.
“And what are you making?” He stepped closer, leaning to take a look over his husband’s shoulder. There was a baking pan lined with some sort of pasta, and next to it was a bowl full of shredded cheese. “You’re going to mix these two together?”
Miles nodded. “Yes.”
Phoenix pointed down to the stove. “And you’re putting it all in the oven?”
“Yes.”
“Which will make…?”
“Käsespätzle.” His husband replied simply, and Phoenix covered his mouth with a snort.
“Sure, that’s what it’s called.” He poked the back of his husband’s neck playfully, earning himself a light jab in his stomach that caused louder laughter.
“The dish you’re thinking of uses macaroni, Wright. This is Spätzle, which is a special type of egg noodle.” Miles began explaining, half of his attention still focused down on the cutting board. “The defining trait of Käsespätzle is the fried onions you add on top of the melted Swiss cheese. You will see the result yourself once I am done with the recipe.” Half of Phoenix’s attention was also down on the gap between Miles’s shirt and his chest.
“Mhm, it looks nice.” He rested his head on the other’s shoulder, letting out a small, defeated sigh. “Are we sure that the air conditioner will be fixed by the end of the week?”
Miles nodded, and Phoenix unfortunately watched a small bead of sweat slide down the line of his throat. “On Saturday. I will be present to supervise the technicians, so it is not an issue you need to occupy your mind with.” Phoenix noted it as the deadline. After Saturday, there won’t be a Miles looking like he might be naked under his pink apron anymore.
Phoenix let out another defeated sigh at the thought.
Miles glanced at him, probably because Phoenix had started squeezing him without meaning to. “If you are bothered by the heat, you could spend the night in my room.” The other offered. “It is much cooler at night than yours.” The two of them didn’t officially sleep in the same bedroom. The prosecutor had too many things to line up his shelves, and he also disapproved of the messy state of any room Phoenix occupied, which was how they ended up with this arrangement since moving in together.
It sounded unconventional to some, but it was actually convenient in a lot of ways. “Nah, it’s alright.” Phoenix chuckled, giving the other a more conscious squeeze. “I like my bed better than your squishy mattress.” As things were, he would not be able to keep his hands off the other if they sat behind closed doors. A little touching and stress relief wasn’t what he was looking for. He wanted hickeys lining up Miles’s chest and his lover crying in unrestrained pleasure by the end of the night.
“Suit yourself,” Miles replied nonchalantly, and eventually Phoenix was shrugged off while his partner went to use the stove.
Watching the other return to work, Phoenix sighed to himself a third time and left the kitchen. He joined Trucy in the living room to watch a rerun of some old romantic comedy on TV. A few minutes in, the main couple started making out on screen. Phoenix squinted at the screen and proceeded to disdainfully change the channel, causing Trucy to loudly protest that ‘It was just getting to the good part!!’.
The next morning wasn’t any better, and neither was the next. Phoenix found himself waking up drenched in sweat every day. As the heatwave reached its peak, Miles also became especially grumpy in the morning, not even bothering to blow-dry his hair before getting ready for work. On one occasion, Phoenix had to watch the man walk out of his room in just his shirt, socks, and fucking gartners, and ask him about where he left his platinum credit card. Phoenix couldn’t remember. It was physically impossible to keep blood flowing above his neck when the biggest thing he wanted to do at that moment was get on his knees and beg his husband to wear some god-forsaken pants. Either that, or take the day off and utilize Trucy’s school hours.
Of course, he said none of the above, and they both ended up late for work because of the missing credit card.
“This is a gift from Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth?!” Athena exclaimed excitedly, looking at the large delivery box from side to side. Widget was chirping ‘No death from heatstroke!’ on repeat with disturbing enthusiasm.
Despite how the week was weighing on him, Phoenix chuckled as he watched his juniors. “It’s called a swamp cooler, I think? It will be a lot nicer on our electricity bill than an AC, and it works better than the old fans we’ve been using.”
Apollo was regarding the package next to Athena, his arms crossed and his gaze alarmingly skeptical. “And this was paid for in full and delivered to our door by…?”
Phoenix rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, Miles heard that I haven’t been able to focus on work, and he assumed this was what the office needed.” His husband did really order the thing without telling him, but Phoenix was pretty used to these surprise gifts by now.
Apollo looked him dead in the eye, not seeming the least bit impressed. “Mr. Wright, be honest with me. Are you really the one paying our wages?” And it was a good question. The first few payouts Apollo got were definitely not out of Phoenix’s pockets. Only those few, though. They were for making sure that the guy stuck around.
“Our defense fees may be cheap, Apollo, but I can guarantee that you’re getting paid by your own sweat and tears.” He informed the younger attorney, making the guy frown further.
“We’ve been sweating enough in this past week to be millionaires, Mr. Wright.” The kid just had a sassy comeback for everything. Phoenix had to wonder who he was emulating.
The newly assembled cooler made wearing a dress shirt so much easier in 90 degrees. Members of the Wright Anything Agency sat doing paperwork for most of the day, and later, when Apollo and Athena headed down to the detention center to meet a potential client, Phoenix stayed behind to do some research. It was as he struggled to click off a weird ad on the computer screen that he noticed his phone lighting up.
Phoenix checked his notifications. He was a little surprised to find a text from Miles, especially one as casual as ‘How are you faring?’. Tapping on the tiny keyboard, he slowly replied.
pretty good though your little gift had the kids turning on me :(
Phoenix set his phone aside, but he found the device vibrating in the next minute.
Turning on you? Did Mr. Justice and Ms. Cykes have a problem with my appliance of choice?
no more like they’re thinking your this agency’s sugar daddy
*you’re
Phoenix snorted. What an asshole he was married to. The typing dots continued on...
While their concerns are not misplaced, your employees can be assured that I only expect their pursuit of truth in exchange for my charity.
Phoenix eagerly checked the text and was disappointed to find that his husband used the correct ‘their’ both times in his sentence.
yeah i’ll tell them
oh but i bet daddy has different expectations for me ;)
Each time you use that word, Wright, equates to one more utility bill you will be paying for our household.
Phoenix immediately shuddered, dreading to imagine what having to pay last month’s electricity bill would have been like. Maybe the joke wasn’t worth it.
In other news, I happen to have some work I could take back. Would you like a drive home?
Phoenix blinked at his screen. It wasn’t even five yet. Usually Miles went home at around 7 PM when Trucy would also be back from her after-school magic practice.
In other words, the house was empty at the moment.
yeah i was just finishing up here too
He was lying through his teeth. Apollo and Athena were supposed to report back to him about the new client, and the three of them had planned to discuss whether they were taking the case.
when will you be here?
But as their boss, wasn’t it also his responsibility to cap their enthusiasm and get them to rest properly? Phoenix was sure they wouldn’t complain about going home early once in a while.
Lovely. You can expect my arrival in 15 minutes.
‘Lovely’ wasn’t a word Miles was in the habit of using. Was his husband looking forward to their meeting as well? The thought left Phoenix a little excited. He rushed to tidy up the paperwork he finished and put the new case file on the shelf. The office was looking like a bigger mess than usual, but he was guaranteed to feel more up to the task of cleaning it once his mind could conjure up more productive thoughts than ‘what does Miles’s sweat taste like?’
Seriously.
“There you are.” Phoenix watched the loud sports car come to a stop in front of the office building. Miles lowered the driver’s window, and he couldn't help the excited grin he wore as he saw his husband. “That was twenty minutes you kept me waiting, Mr. Edgeworth.”
There was a subtle tug on the other's lips, indicative of a smile. “My apologies, Mr. Wright. I happened to get held up in traffic.”
Phoenix rounded the car to the other side and took his seat as the passenger. Being inside the air-conditioned unit was a relief from the temperature outside, yet even without the heat messing with his head, Phoenix couldn't rein in his thoughts about his lover.
“Well, the best way to apologize is to make up for lost time.” He told Miles, which caused the man to roll his eyes.
“I'm not breaking traffic laws for your impatience, Wright.” His husband replied, and Phoenix noted the implication that the other was aware of his lack of patience. It was another great sign for the night.
“Fine, then make up for lost time when we get home.” Phoenix leaned against the window, his cheek propped on his hand as his eyes remained fixed on his companion.
Miles hummed quietly, considering the proposal. “And how do you suggest we do that?” Even in the cool air, just the sight of the prosecutor with his bangs tucked behind his ear and his sleeves bunched above his elbows was making Phoenix swoon…
“Let's skip dinner and order takeout.” He suggested casually. If they were truly on the same page, those words should communicate his intent well enough. After all, it wasn't the first time they had thought to rush home to have sex while they had the house to themselves. The best part was that it was Friday, too, which meant no work the next day for Miles to worry about.
“I find that acceptable.” His husband replied. Miles took his eyes off the road for the briefest moment, and their eyes met properly for the first time since the start of the conversation.
“Do try to keep up this evening, Wright.”
Spoken with such sharp discernment, the words sent a shiver down his spine.
Phoenix could admit that he was too eager. All it took was having to close the door before he was onto his husband. Kissing him, pressing him against the wall, feeling him through his clothes; it was a week’s worth of want catching up with him.
Luckily, Miles seemed just as impatient, having been the one to take his glasses off, grip Phoenix’s jaw, and pull him in with his tie.
His wishes were simple. He wanted just a bit of clothes off of Miles, but not everything. His hand touched its way above the fabric from the other’s abdomen to his chest, and just as he came into contact with the smallest window of skin, he undid a button. From there, Phoenix broke their kiss and put his lips between his husband's collars.
“Wright… I have yet to shower.” Miles informed softly, and Phoenix blatantly ignored him. He had only started catching his lover's scent. By all means, Miles Edgeworth used too many self-care products to ever not smell like rose petals, but at that moment, there was a heaviness to the scent of cologne Phoenix was used to. It smelled warm and almost earthy, like a regular person would and not the world’s most put-together man. Phoenix couldn’t help burying his nose in it.
“Wright, would you wait until…” His husband trailed off as he craned his neck, having suppressed a groan as Phoenix sucked on a spot under his jaw. He pushed his leg in between his husband's, applying a careful pressure as he lined the rest of their bodies up. The thing Phoenix reveled in most was blowing air against the glistening skin of his lover’s neck and feeling the man shiver underneath him.
“P-Phoenix, I told you to…” His lover's voice sounded just a little higher. Phoenix kissed the line of the other's throat and gave it the smallest bite, earning himself a delightfully sexy whine from the man’s well-spoken lips.
But it was far from enough. He needed to see Miles in one of his loose tank tops again; wanted to hold him from behind as he felt up his chest from underneath the clothes, tug at it until the fabric slid off his shoulders, and watch as it showed off all the marks Phoenix had left on his body. At this point, it was a necessity to push up the legs of the sports shorts Miles wore until he could put his mouth on his husband's generously full ass.
All those thoughts truly were a problem. They had two hours at best, but Phoenix could imagine toying with those fantasies for hours, leaving his husband desperate until he was begging him to make all the teasing pay off.
“Phoenix, I-I need…” Miles breathed, his face having become an enticing pink. “I should shower first. I…promise I won't be long.” His husband brushed his cheek softly, and Phoenix leaned into his hand with a small grin.
“You won’t let me join you?” He asked with a feigned tone of innocence, making his partner huff in amusement.
“I’m afraid that with how motivated you seem to be today, we won’t even make it past the door.” Miles leaned in, placing a kiss on his forehead. The heat radiating from their bodies and the warmth of his husband’s voice could have made him melt right there.
With a soft breath, Phoenix withdrew, deciding to curb his greed and work with what he had. “Fine.” After all, Miles would be emerging out of the shower with those exact clothes he was fantasizing about. “I guess I’ll be using the peasant guest bathroom again.” He replied with a playful roll of his eyes, causing his husband to frown.
“What kind of peasant bathroom has marble flooring?”
“The kind that doesn’t double as a sauna, unlike the one you’re keeping for yourself.” He replied, and the prosecutor sputtered, going on to argue with him about the ‘necessities of having your own personal spa at home’ or something. Phoenix let him win the argument just for the sake of getting him in bed faster.
That was not how it was supposed to go.
Phoenix had showered in under five minutes and rushed to the bedroom. He was sitting around, listening to the sound of the bathroom door until a click rang out in the empty hallway and footsteps grew closer. Phoenix was anticipating the sight that had been pushing his buttons for the last week. Today was the only day in the defense attorney's life where he didn’t want to see his husband shirtless.
But it was what he got.
“I apologize for the delay,” Miles spoke as he walked in, lightly drying off his hair with a towel. “Did you want to–”
“Please put your shirt back on!” Phoenix blurted out and only realized what he said after Miles had paused to fix him with a questioning eyebrow.
“What is it you just said?”
Panic suddenly coursed through him. Phoenix proceeded to quickly cover his mouth. “Uh… please?” He tried.
A frown grew on the prosecutor’s face. “I asked what it was you said, Wright.” Being demoted to ‘Wright’ was evidence enough of how much he had messed up.
Phoenix brushed the back of his neck, a sheepish grin creeping its way onto his face. “Oh, uh– You see, it’s kind of a funny story. I told you to put on your clothes because–” What was he supposed to say? That the clothes were the thing turning him on most that night? Miles would shred him. “Because… Well, you look good in them.”
He didn’t know if that was a good answer. By the skeptical downturn of his husband’s lips, it might not have been. “I was beginning to suspect that.” Miles crossed his arms, and the way his chest got fuller just didn’t have the same magic to it without a top…
…
“Wait.” It took Phoenix a second to register the response. “You noticed??” And when he received a nod, he felt his face heating up. The defense attorney swallowed and hesitated as he opened his mouth. “It’s uh– it’s honestly not that big of a deal. I was being stupid just now.” There was this urgent need to brush things over; not to let the full extent of his thoughts be exposed. “We can just pick up from earlier. Time is really running short after all.” He tried to put on the easy-going act, but Phoenix doubted that his smile looked convincing.
Oddly, Miles seemed contemplative. He wasn’t mad; Phoenix could tell that much. A Miles that disapproved of his fetishes was one that turned up his nose and openly judged him. The prosecutor wasn't doing that. “I believe I can indulge you.” His husband stated, making Phoenix almost perk up like a dog that was thrown a bone. “–but,” Miles added crucially, making the newly launched hope crash to the ground.
“...but…?”
Miles smiled, the pull of his lips suddenly seeming dangerous. “But you have to wait until tomorrow, where your indulgence will be graced with more time.” His husband walked closer. He put his knee on the edge of the bed and leaned down to take hold of Phoenix’s chin. The defense attorney looked up, and for a moment, he was struck. Miles wasn’t necessarily a prude—definitely not after being with him for so long—but it was rare for Phoenix to find himself being gazed at by the prosecutor like he was an appetizing meal. “Will you practice patience, Wright?”
Miles loved messing with him like this sometimes; presenting a matter like it was a choice, as if Phoenix had any will to say no.
He couldn’t wait for tomorrow.
“You look pretty chipper today, Boss!” Athena added in as she greeted him. It was a nice Saturday morning, and the Wright Anything Agency was doing business on the weekends as usual.
Phoenix smiled at her as he glanced up from his case file. “Yeah, you could say that.” How could he not be happy? Miles had basically guaranteed them the house alone by getting his trusty assistant to take Trucy for a sleepover. Phoenix was going to get Kay the nicest birthday gift that year.
Athena grinned widely at the news. “So you finally sorted things out with Mr. Edgeworth?”
“With Mr. Edgeworth’s sister, you mean.” Apollo corrected her as he sat down with his coffee. The guy was hardcore enough to drink it hot even in this weather.
Athena’s grin became directed at him. “We call this the denial stage, Apollo.” She also sat down with her iced latte, taking a languid sip. “Honestly, is it even that hard to believe that they’re together? You told me all about their courtroom rivalry yourself.”
Apollo set his drink down with a dissatisfied grimace. “Being courtroom rivals is completely different from being in a relationship!” He protested, earning a dubious look from Athena that immediately made the two-horned attorney flash red. “What I’m trying to say–” Apollo attempted to clear his throat. “–is that I won’t believe it until I see better evidence than a letter on a ring.” It was useless, because his voice still cracked.
Phoenix felt fond watching the kid’s almost endearing stubbornness. “You don’t believe that I could be the Chief Prosecutor’s type?” He asked.
“No.” His junior replied bluntly, making Athena have another round at lecturing him about how ‘hate is hotter than love,’ according to psychologists, which seemed to make Apollo more flustered than he should become.
It was almost astounding how prophetic that conversation ended up being, because that same afternoon, just as they were planning out their investigation of the new case, the doorbell rang.
“Hold on, I’ll get it.” Apollo took his list of profiles along as he walked to the door. Exactly ten seconds later, they heard that same list hit the ground, and the powerful ring of Apollo’s Chords of Steel.
Seeing that his employee had practically squawked, Phoenix hurriedly followed Athena to the front door and found himself faced with a surprise. It was Miles’s first appearance at the agency with his juniors present, yes, but it was an appearance more notable for featuring his husband completely out of his work attire. No suit, no cravat, not even glasses.
“I don’t suppose gawking at guests is a tradition at this office?” Miles regarded the three of them with almost bored nonchalance, having been standing with one hand in the pocket of his chino shorts.
Athena, bless her heart, was the first of the three of them to lift her jaw off the floor. “Oh!” She pushed Apollo’s petrified figure aside, causing the poor guy to stumble. “What a surprise, Mr. Edgeworth! We haven’t met since fitness class in Europe!”
Miles nodded to her without skipping a beat, his demeanor softening somewhat. “Yes. Though I have heard much about your judicial work from Wright.”
Athena grinned. “The Boss is saying good things, I hope?”
“He has had nothing but praise, especially concerning your input during the incident at Shipshape Aquarium–” His husband went on, and while Phoenix would have normally gotten a kick out of listening to his husband talking about singing pirates and killer whales as defendants, the scene was a little distracting with the… black, sleeveless button-up the man had clinging to his frame.
“His…chest is waxed…” He heard Apollo murmuring in horror, and the guy was probably having an existential realization of his own. The realization Phoenix was personally coming to was that he had never seen his husband wearing his sexuality so blatantly until this very moment.
“Do you wanna come in, Mr. Edgeworth?” Athena graciously gestured for the prosecutor, having already had an entire conversation with him while Phoenix and his junior were gaping.
Miles put up his hand in polite refusal. “No, I was simply in the area and intended to stop by briefly to inform Wright of a few things.” His tone shifted, returning to its default serious setting. “Wright?” His husband called.
Phoenix quickly brought his gaze up from the shirt and straightened his back to stand at attention. “Y-Yeah?”
…was that a flash of amusement he saw in Miles’s eyes?
“First, the air conditioning system is back to being fully functional.” His husband began, and Phoenix nodded fervently.
“Yeah!”
“Second, I will be running an errand until seven in the evening.” The man continued with a smile. “I expect you to be home before then, and preferably have prepared dinner.” Miles crossed his arms, looking smug, and Phoenix could swear the man knew what he was doing by that point. “Is that clear, darling?”
“DARLING?!” Apollo squeaked, and Phoenix would have liked to yell similarly, had he not had his dignity to maintain in front of his employees.
“Yup, super clear.” He replied casually, even going up to give Miles the most kid-friendly kiss on a cheek as goodbye. “I’ll see you at dinner, babe.”
“BA–?!” Apollo almost screamed, but Athena quickly muffled him.
Everything about the interaction was absurd. His husband had the pull of a smirk on his face, and Phoenix just could not wait to see those same lips struggle to form a sentence.
“I look forward to it.”
It took around an hour to patch up the damage that Miles left in his wake, mostly to break Apollo out of his shellshock at having seen one of his judicial idols dressed like he was ready to hit the club, and to make it so that Athena’s Widget did not keep blurting out her unspoken thoughts of ‘Boss’s getting lucky tonight!’. Of all the things he had had to do since retaking the bar, these tasks were up there in terms of humiliation.
But when he was able to finish up in the agency that day, when Athena and Apollo had both promised to go over the defense’s strategy at their own time, the office doors were locked tight, and Phoenix found himself making a beeline home.
Miles made it back before the teriyaki chicken was done. Phoenix could hear the front door slide open first, then a high-pitched beep as the AC unit was presumably turned on. It was a little later that the cold air made its way to the kitchen along with a pair of footsteps.
“I saw the windows left open,” Miles told him, sounding amused. “Have you already forgotten that the cooling system was fixed?”
Phoenix stole a glance behind him, and he was mildly surprised to find his husband having covered up. Miles was wearing a light cardigan over his outdoor clothes. “Yeah, it slipped my mind.” Knowing that his husband had done that on purpose, Phoenix didn’t let his eyes linger and casually returned to his cooking.
“I thought I asked for dinner to be ready by the time of my arrival.” He heard his husband saying, his voice growing closer until it was next to his ear. Phoenix felt arms wrapping around his shoulders, and the cool touch of skin against the back of his neck.
“Well, Your Majesty, the defense had a strategy meeting,” Phoenix replied easily, and sensed the soft huff of a chuckle.
“Ridiculous. The only strategy you know to employ, Wright, is to pick evidence with your eyes closed and pray.” After having been around Miles Edgeworth for so many years, Phoenix knew without a doubt that being demeaning to him like this was how the prosecutor got his rocks off. Nothing could beat the gleeful satisfaction that slipped into his husband’s expression when he spoke down to him.
Phoenix, with some certainty that he didn’t have a thing for humiliation, still found a smug Miles too attractive to not let him have fun. “And these days, is it the prosecution’s strategy to show up with half a shirt and distract the defense?” Phoenix could picture the perturbed frown he put on his husband’s face without having to look.
“Surely, you know I would never walk into the courtroom dressed like this,” Miles replied with offense, making the defense attorney grin.
“Oh, I was talking about your employees, Chief.” Phoenix glanced at the man. “Apollo has had a whooole lot to say about a certain German prosecutor from your office.” The smallest mention of the younger Gavin brother was always enough to get the Chief Prosecutor cursing in a foreign tongue.
“Wright, he is not even German.” His husband agonized, and Phoenix found himself being squeezed like a stress ball. “I have given him an abundant number of warnings that he has simply ignored. This is a time of reformation for the Prosecutor’s Office, and so I cannot afford to suspend many of our attorneys, but believe me when I say this, Wright, Prosecutor Gavin is hanging by a critically thin thread–” And so went on the rant. Phoenix could barely hide how amused he was by it, since he knew that despite how frustrated his husband could be with his employees, the real reason he was lenient with them was that he genuinely valued their work. It was why Klavier Gavin could stand at the prosecutor’s bench in a crop top during this heatwave, and why Prosecutor Blackquill, the man terrorizing his juniors at the moment, was being allowed to prosecute as a death-row inmate and bring his pet hawk to meetings.
Once Miles had gotten some of his work woes out of his system, and after the table was lined up with food, Phoenix wasn’t surprised to find their conversation becoming more relaxed as they ate. The temperature inside the house was a significant drop from outdoors, even verging on being too cold. As he sat, Phoenix rubbed his feet together a little, and as he watched Miles on the other side of the table, he lingered on how warm he looked underneath his long outer layer, and how nice it would feel to hold him in it.
The thought wouldn’t leave his head as they finished eating and put the leftovers away. It kept bothering him as they sat down with the TV playing, Miles having put on the news channel to watch intently. Phoenix became especially aware of what he was missing when his husband shifted as he sat, and their arms brushed against one another.
“You don’t need a blanket, Wright?” Miles offered with his head tilted slightly. The most he could see of the other’s skin at that moment was his neck, the part of his body that almost never saw the sun.
Phoenix suppressed a shiver, but goosebumps had overwhelmed him with a sensation like needles pricking his body. He opened his mouth to answer, but paused, finding another thought coming to the surface. “...Didn’t you tell me to be patient? I’m still waiting to see how that pays off.”
His bluntness seemed to make his husband smile. Miles lifted one leg onto the couch and leaned his folded arms on his knee as he faced him. “How it pays off?” Phoenix’s gaze slid down the other’s figure, seeing the gap between Miles’s shorts and his knee-high socks. It was another patch of skin that was rarely touched by the sun, or by any person for that matter. “And how did you expect it to pay off, Wright?”
He swallowed thickly, a lump starting to form in his throat. “Well, for one, I expected you to be sitting a little closer.”
He could see the amusement in Miles’s eyes as he squinted, having shifted to lean into his space the slightest bit. “How close?”
Phoenix wasn’t naturally good at self-restraint. He did things on a whim, valuing simultaneity unlike his careful partner. At times, it was fun to chip away at Miles’s self-control and get him to do things he wouldn’t admit to wanting. However, when the tables turned on him—when Miles purposefully pushed his buttons—Phoenix did sometimes wish he had better self-restraint.
He pulled Miles in, taking him completely onto his lap. The warmth of his husband’s back as it pressed against his chest hit him with instant gratification. Wrapping his arms around the man and hearing the soft sigh he let out as he squeezed him also made his heart flutter. “This close.” He pressed a kiss onto the back of his lover’s neck, and reveled in the shiver it brought down the other’s body.
“Still rather tame for you.” His husband responded in an even tone, ignoring how Phoenix had started pressing his mouth along his nape. “Was there anything else you were expecting?”
Phoenix couldn’t help feeling happy at being read so well. “A couple things.” His hands slipped under the cardigan and slowly made their way beneath Miles’s shirt to touch him directly. “For one, I expect a surprise hidden somewhere once I take all of these off you.” Evidently, his hands must have felt like ice picks because his husband gasped upon their contact. With no response, Phoenix continued right into his lover’s ear. “And… I guess if you ask me about something else I would be expecting...” He dragged the tips of his fingers lower, letting one sink in between his husband’s legs. “It’s that you prepared in advance. You’re ready to take me right away, aren’t you, Miles?” He didn’t even have to observe carefully to see the tips of his partner’s ears getting a dusting of pink.
“...Naturally, as it prevents pointless delay.” There was no one else in the world who could make his reasons for prepping sound so eloquent.
“So in other words, you're impatient.” Phoenix couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tease him about it.
“I prefer resolute.” The duality of Miles Edgeworth was the command he asserted over others through his words, and the contrast of his malleability when he was being touched. The man was almost docile under his hands, bending forward as Phoenix leaned into him, and pushing into Phoenix's hands as he kneaded and pinched the right places.
They continued like that for a few minutes, Phoenix opting to mostly feel his lover up and let the heat between their bodies accumulate. The feeling brought him a thought. “Did you put the temperature low on purpose? It’s a pretty smart idea if you did.” Phoenix finally pulled the cardigan off, giving him the sight of Miles that had greeted him at the agency door. “This way I can use you to help me feel a little better.” He traced his mouth along his husband's shoulder blades. “Do you know how warm it is inside you, Miles? It’s so warm and so good…” A shiver ran down the other’s body, and as Phoenix gave the spot between his neck and shoulder a bite, it caused the prosecutor to jolt.
“Y-you’re awfully chatty.” Miles finally replied behind gritted teeth. The man might have sounded frustrated, but make no mistake. The hand Phoenix used to stroke him knew that the earlier jolt was a flash of arousal hitting his pent-up lover.
In other words, he and Miles were both exactly where they wanted to be.
“Less talking and more doing, got it.” Phoenix snarked, but he was starting to grow a little impatient himself. He demonstrated by pushing up the leg of Miles’s shorts and touching higher up his thighs. “But you know, you didn’t comment earlier when I said that you had something under your clothes.” And so he felt up his lover’s legs, trying to find his answer.
Miles was surprisingly indifferent as he replied. “Then perhaps you ought to question the validity of your guess.”
Phoenix liked to think that he knew his husband well enough to be right with most of his guesses, but as he touched under his lover's clothes, even around his hips, all he found was nothing. “Huh…” A frown started to grow on his face, showing his disappointment until the realization hit him. “Wait.” His eyes were blown wide, and he retracted his hands, immediately grabbing his partner’s chin to face him. “Miles, are you wearing anything under your clothes??”
The prosecutor froze, and the way he averted his gaze was an immediate giveaway.
“You're not?!” Phoenix repeated in disbelief, causing Miles to huff.
“As I have said, Wright, it's prevention of pointless delay!” He would have sounded stern, had he not been blushing furiously. “Honestly, what else were you expecting? As if I would be wearing some ridiculous undergarments. All these years and you have yet to learn not to draw conclusions from baseless conjectu–!” It was as far as he got before he noticed what Phoenix was doing. Through the leg openings of the prosecutor’s shorts, the defense attorney went in and inserted his fingers.
“Oh, wow, I can actually reach it from there,” Phoenix noted to himself. He could feel the slippery thickness of the silicon-based lube they used against the tips of his fingers. The wet feeling around the rim left him a little fascinated...
“Ngh…” Miles was predictably not happy with that bit of exploration, going on to wear a glare that could kill had he not simultaneously been tomato red.
It made Phoenix immediately snuggle up to the man in order to appease him. “I’m happy, okay? You did all this for me.” Two fingers could reach into his partner, and so they experimentally spread him apart, noting the easy stretch. “And you did it thinking of me.” Phoenix placed a kiss on the shell of his husband’s ear, but the other made a strangled noise like a dying goose, which made Phoenix conclude that he was messing with him too much. With a chuckle, he retracted his hand and gave Miles a pat on the arm. “Alright, alright. I’ll treat you more delicately.”
“Fuck off, Phoenix.”
His husband’s response was immediate and sharp, and Phoenix was a little ashamed to admit that the sound went straight to his groin…
Miles laid on the couch facing away from him, only his lower body within proximity for Phoenix to touch. His shorts hung around his knees as Phoenix took his time giving him more direct attention. One hand was focused on reaching in and diligently massaging the bundle of nerves that made the man melt. The other hand wrapped around the front, stroking slowly and smearing the clear fluid coming out to ease the friction. The only reason he wasn’t doing either of these tasks with his mouth was that his fussy husband would refuse to kiss him afterwards.
The thing he loved about Miles the most during moments like these was how relaxed he seemed, how trusting he was that the person touching him would give him every bit of pleasure he was craving. Phoenix leaned down and kissed his lover’s still-clothed back, and he was rewarded with the man’s half-muffled moans.
“You’re tightening up,” He observed through his lover and pressed another kiss on his shoulder. “Are you about to come?”
The answer was already clear in the slight tremble between the other’s thighs, but Miles also nodded, clearing his throat to reply to him. “You’re…welcome to stop here.”
Phoenix smiled to himself, leaning back and carefully taking his fingers out. “In other words, ‘just get on with it’, right?”
Miles huffed in annoyance, an impressive demonstration for someone sitting face down, ass up. “If you already knew that, then what point was there in asking?”
Phoenix chuckled, having started taking his t-shirt off. “Jeez, you’re really impatient.” He left the couch for a moment to get rid of his pants too. With all his clothes off, he was bound to get cold, but Phoenix figured he would manage with his husband’s help. “Do you think I should grab the lube? Honestly, it felt like you already used half of the stuff on yourself.” As he spoke, he reached out and traced his finger around his husband’s slick entrance. Pushing, it easily gave into the pressure and let his thumb sink in. Phoenix made a careful circular motion, and the wet sound he could hear was almost making his head spin with arousal.
Miles’s voice took on a warning tone. “Wright…”
And there, Phoenix was startled back into reality. With a sheepish grin, he let go and sat properly. “You’ll just have to tell me if the friction is uncomfortable.” He ushered his partner to lower hips, and as they became lined up, he leaned his weight down into Miles as he slipped inside him.
The sensation was mind-numbingly warm. Compared to the chill permeating the air of the living room, his lover’s body felt like a scalding source of heat. “Ngh, it’s so…” Phoenix squeezed his eyes as he pulled out and thrust in properly, the intensity of the sensation having washed over him. “–so good.” The motion also caused his husband to muffle a sound in his pillow. “This is what I lost all those work hours thinking about, you know.” He pressed down on the small of his partner’s back, fixing him in place as he set a hurried pace. “About how good you look in these clothes, and how much better…you will look when I have you like this.” The pace must have been rough on his partner’s body, but not only was Miles taking it well; he was moaning and moving back to meet every thrust.
Phoenix realized that he might have been doing too good a job, actually, showering his lover with compliments and fucking him well enough that he came within the minute…
“What I wouldn’t give…–” Miles grumbled tiredly. “–to stop feeding your ego…” After the one-minute duration, the man was out of breath and still completely full of him.
Phoenix couldn’t help laughing. Leaning down, he slowed his thrusts into a gentler rhythm, letting his hips carefully grind into his lover’s instead. “If it’s any consolation, my ego’s probably not getting any bigger.” He could see how Miles’s shoulders tensed, the movements tickling the lasting effects of his orgasm.
“It’s already too big.” Miles bit back, putting another stupid grin on Phoenix’s face. The defense attorney drew closer to his lover and pressed a kiss to his jaw. Between how deprived they had been of each other, and how young the night still was, they didn’t need to exchange words to know that they were far from done.
But it was getting too cold in the living room, and their current position, while providing the nicest view of Miles’s back down to his ass, was getting a little lonely.
“Come up here.” Phoenix wrapped his arms around his partner, pulling him against his chest and sitting him up on his knees. Miles strained his neck to look back at him with a questioning frown. To answer it, Phoenix let his hands come up under the other’s shirt and take hold of his waist. “Can you move for me?” He could see how Miles still flinched from the smallest bit of sensitive touch, but the prosecutor wasn’t the type of person to answer ‘no’ when presented with a question that started with ‘can you?’.
Miles looked away, and his answer came in the form of pulling up his hips and sinking down to take him in on repeat. The sight was somehow more intense than the sensation itself. After all, he had this dignified, handsome man grinding into him and trying to make him feel good. The sight also urged him to touch his husband again, to rake up his body and tease the parts he knew would get a reaction.
“You just cannot help yourself, can you?” Miles berated him, despite each twitch of pleasure Phoenix triggered with every pinch and squeeze.
“But I am helping myself.” Phoenix leaned in and let his face sink between the collar of Miles’s shirt and his neck, giving the area a series of nips. “I’m helping myself to the world’s most tantalizing man, who happens to like the way that I touch him a whole lot.” To emphasize his point, he rolled his hips into his lover, rubbing into his sweet spot just as he twisted his nipples. The guttural whine it produced from his lover sent an intense shiver down his spine.
Finding that he wanted to hear more, Phoenix ground his hips again and pressed his mouth to his husband’s neck. Another flick of his fingers and Miles hissed. Another push of his hips and his partner was tightening impossibly around him. One more jut of his lover’s hips and Phoenix found a knot growing hotter in his stomach. In a moment, he grabbed his lover and took control of their pace, speeding up as he pushed in deeper and chased his release. Miles was amazing during it, jerking back into him even as he seemed to get overwhelmed, his voice dragging out. Before long, Phoenix felt the tension dissolving into relief as he finished inside his lover.
It took a minute for him to catch his breath. There was a lot to take in: residual pleasure washing over his senses, the mild sense of satisfaction, and the fact that Miles was still grinding into him, trying and struggling to chase another release of his own.
The sight was downright terrible for his heart, and too demanding for his refractory period. “Miles…” He pulled out, causing his partner to look back at him with a glare that appeared soft with the slight desperation in it.
“I hope you don’t…believe you’re done, Wright.” Miles, with heavy breaths, informed him from over his shoulder, and that sight too was bad for his heart.
There was no choice but to appease his lover some other way. Phoenix pulled him closer and sat back with Miles on his lap. “I know, but give it a minute.” His husband seemed to settle in comfortably. Even as Phoenix pulled his thighs apart and wrapped his hand around the length of him, he found the other leaning back into him and humming contentedly. The tickle of Miles’s breath against his neck put a smile on his face. “Is this good for you?”
Miles took his time answering, seeming to savor the slow strokes Phoenix was treating him with. “I wouldn't be married to you, Wright, if you weren't good for me.” The prosecutor was definitely not paying good attention anymore, but it mattered very little when his mouth softened into a smile that made Phoenix feel warm all over. Before the defense attorney could respond, he found his husband turning around and kissing him.
After everything they had done that night, a kiss somehow overwhelmed him the quickest. It felt too easy to get lost in Miles’s eager lips and the pleasant taste of their dinner. Touching his lover as that same man straddled his lap and shoved his tongue down his throat was also an amazing sensation.
Eventually, when his husband's breath started to stutter from buildup, and after all the contact between them accumulated like a love drug, Phoenix brought his hand behind his lover and tested his fingers around the rim once more. “Are you okay to go again?” As he pushed one finger in, he felt cum trickling down his palm. Phoenix tried not to acknowledge how much more turned on the sensation made him.
“Look at you being careful,” Miles replied in a sarcastic tone, which added to his arousal. “And after we are done, are you going to ask if my lower back hurts?”
Phoenix rolled his eyes, shaking his head at the prosecutor. “Yeah, I walked right into that one.” He shifted where he sat and took hold of Miles’s hips, lifting them. His husband followed along and lowered himself down, easily taking him into that tight, slick warmth once more. Phoenix closed his eyes as he suppressed a groan, and Miles seemed to take it as his chance to grab his face and kiss him again. His husband was quick to start moving with intention, quickly chasing the pleasure Phoenix had helped him build.
At first, Miles was biting his lips, then there was a quiver to the other’s breath as his voice sounded out in between their kisses. Soon, Phoenix felt that unbearable tightness as Miles was presumably about to reach his second climax.
So he toppled him over.
Miles was lying on his back with bewilderment, and Phoenix was looking down at him with excitement hidden behind his smile, wondering how long they were going to last this time.
“Typical.” The prosecutor said, and a frowning, blushing Miles was really a sight he couldn’t get tired of. “Is this…how we are playing today, Phoenix?” The sound of his name through his lover’s breathy voice also had incredible power.
Phoenix exhaled, not realizing he had been holding his breath. “It is. You don’t mind if I mess around for a bit?”
Miles huffed with amusement, his tone patronizing. “Messing around is what you always do.”
Phoenix opted to ignore that, instead focusing on his task as he slowly sank back into his lover. Miles, who likely already felt sensitive, tensed up around him. “It’s a little game, and if you win, I’ll do the cooking for two weeks.”
Miles peeked at him with suspicion. “And if you win?”
Phoenix chuckled breathlessly and got up in his husband’s face. “Oh, if I win, I would have already gotten my prize.” The skepticism on his partner’s face didn’t fade, but he saw his smile widening in the way it did whenever the prosecutor contemplated indulging him.
“Alright. I suppose the outcome can only be to my benefit.”
Phoenix brushed a strand from his lover’s face, taking one extra moment to savor that soft expression. “Great. Now, it’s only one rule.” As a last apology, he kissed Miles’s sweat-slick forehead. “You can’t come before I do.”
His husband’s brows furrowed in disapproval, but the game was already on. Phoenix brought their bodies closer. He held his partner’s hips and snapped in deeper, making him shudder. As his senses were washed over by the warmth his lover’s body enveloped him with, Phoenix watched that same body squirm and arch into his touch, struggling to take the pleasure.
The idea was that he wanted Miles to win. He was going to keep slowing down when the prosecutor struggled, and speeding up when he got a grip on himself.
When Miles’s breath hitched and he bit down on his lower lip, Phoenix eased their movement into a careful grind as he pulled his lover’s shirt open and left marks along his collarbones. When Miles’s grip around him eased and he breathed out evenly, Phoenix pushed the back of his partner’s knee and slammed in deeper, rattling the built-up tension and causing a well-put-together man to tear up and gasp for air.
“You’re doing better than I expected,” Phoenix told him during another round of harsh thrusts, then sudden relief. “And you’re… I wish you would see how good you look.” His skin marked with the traces his teeth left—or discolored by a darker red—and lying down almost entirely naked except for the shirt falling off his shoulders. Each time Phoenix brushed into that sweet spot his husband couldn’t get enough of, he would see the other lifting his hips and the rest of his body arching as Miles turned his face away from him. Even his lover’s neck was flushed by this point.
“What, you’re going to ignore me?” Phoenix teased him, getting close to the face that was averted from his gaze and opting to bite its ear. “I know you can still talk. It takes a little more than this to render Mr. Edgeworth speechless.” His provocation earned him a strangled groan, and an appropriately sharp dig into his back, courtesy of his husband’s nails.
“Y-You’re an absolute…bother.” His husband strained, and as Phoenix sped up again, he watched him muffle himself into his pillow and shudder with the twitch of buildup. Phoenix had to slow down immediately, and he saw his husband almost whine at the loss of the sensation.
“Are you doing okay, darling?” He continued unhelpfully, leaning in and kissing his lover’s cheek, which was becoming damp with tears. “You know, I don’t think I’m even halfway through yet.” He lied, and Miles must have known he was. “If you want, you can forfeit this game, and I’ll help you come.”
No response at first, only his husband’s strangled moans as he struggled to take each jut into his pelvis.
“I guess I’ll have to take your silence as forfeit.” Phoenix nudged his lover further, causing the man to start glaring at him. There was no easy way to explain how hot a person could look with this much animosity behind their eyes while looking simultaneously wrecked.
Miles took a stuttering breath. “Shut y-your blithering m-mouth and…” Biting his lower lip, the prosecutor trembled around the words.
Phoenix gave it another forceful thrust, and he could see his husband blinking away genuine tears as he gritted his teeth. “And?”
Miles started curling into him, his arms holding tight and the heels of his feet digging into his lower back. The other's breathing was louder, and tremors in his voice started sounding like he was crying. “Phoenix, j-just…”
Phoenix pressed a kiss at the corner of his lover’s eyes. “You want to come?” The immediate response was a nod—his husband having pressed his eyes shut and moved his head fervently. Finally, Phoenix slowed down, wanting to savor this last bit of the needy Miles he created. “Can I get a kiss first?” Even before he could get the last syllable out, the other was already on his mouth, clumsily trying to kiss him with his desperate, quivering lips.
With that, Phoenix knew that he couldn’t keep a lid on his composure even if he wanted to.
He sped up for the final time, holding his lover in place as he thrust in again and again, consistently chasing his own release against the backdrop of Miles losing their game and coming all over his stomach with shuddering intensity. If the unbearable way his husband’s insides squeezed him hadn’t pushed him over the edge, the sight of the disheveled, winded-out prosecutor would have also done the trick.
...
..
.
“You are doing the cooking for two weeks,” Miles informed him after they had painstakingly moved to the bedroom.
Phoenix dropped next to his husband, tired after having had to strip the furniture covers and do a round of laundry. “Is this some kind of punishment?”
Miles gave him the hmph treatment and proceeded to smirk. “No, it is your incentive to not ruin a perfectly good designer shirt.”
"Huh?!" Phoenix sat up startled, guilt immediately washing over him. “How expensive was it?!”
Miles started laughing, and Phoenix felt even more confused as his husband pulled him closer, placing a kiss into his tousled hair. “That is none of your concern now." Miles pulled away from his face, going to hold his shoulder instead. "But be assured that I am not asking you to cook because I enjoy the food you prepare.” It was unfair how his husband could so endearingly disguise his affection with prickliness, and for Phoenix, it troubled him how much more in love those gestures made him.
“I guess I’ll have to start considering the menu.” He put his own arms around his lover, unable to contain the happiness in his expression as he looked back at him.
Miles’s lips were quirked up similarly. “I might have some suggestions to give.”
Inside the prosecutor’s bedroom on his silky, plush blankets, the softest thing in their surroundings was somehow his husband's loving gaze as he spoke to him. Those were the same eyes that observed him carefully, openly displayed their want, and allowed him to see a shocking amount of vulnerability.
The way Miles indulged his fantasy that day might have fed his arousal at the moment of, but sitting in the aftermath, Phoenix knew that it reflected how highly regarded he was by this magnificent man.