Crickets chirped rhythmically outside, audible through the cracked window behind their heads. Edgeworth lay there content, listening to their gentle conversation, trailing his fingers up and down Phoenix's spine as he slept peacefully against the prosecutor's chest. The ache between his legs had only just begun to set in and he shifted against it, careful not to disturb the slumbering man in his arms. As usual, he'd been pleasantly surprised by the attorney's ability to adapt; his body still thrummed with the pleasure from their earlier tryst in the shower. Perhaps he was simply a good teacher.

As the two of them lie there in bed, he sighed deeply and shut his eyes, trying to savor the moment as much as he could. It had been an unbelievably long, arduous road to arrive in this very place and time and he intended to appreciate it at every opportunity. He'd never been a particularly religious man, but he knew when to give gratitude for things he'd been given. Resting his chin on the top of Phoenix's head, he smiled to himself, wondering where they would go from here.

Despite the exhaustion that wracked his body, he found himself unable to doze off, insistent upon monitoring the other man in his bed for a while longer. Phoenix wasn't one to complain, not often, but it was impossible to miss the hideous bruise that still decorated his features as a terrible reminder of what had transpired mere days ago. He'd never had a concussion before, himself, but he remembered reading once that you shouldn't allow people to sleep too deeply when they had one and the notion gave him a small amount of anxiety. Logically speaking, he knew they were pretty much out of the woods at this point, particularly with Phoenix's rather…athletic display earlier, but nevertheless, he found it quite difficult to rest.

He wondered what the man was dreaming about, if anything.

The image of Phoenix sat at his piano drifted to the forefront of his mind and he closed his eyes, focusing on it. He hadn't quite gotten the chance to tell him that he'd gotten it tuned for him, but he figured it would come up soon enough. At this point, he was half tempted to buy one for his own home, if only to maximize the opportunities to get the other man to sing for him again. Distantly, he knew it was outrageous; they had been dating for a scant two weeks, if that. Certainly it hadn't been long enough for him to start spending money on extravagant gifts as poorly-concealed bribes for the attorney's time and attention.

Still…

He turned his head to rest his cheek against the damp black spikes. In spite of his handsome salary, it got terribly boring spending his money on himself all the time. Now that he'd been exposed to Phoenix's artistic talents, he found himself increasingly eager to encourage them by any means necessary.

The brunette in question shifted under his cheek, murmuring sleepily to himself as he repositioned. When Edgeworth glanced down at him, he was surprised to see Phoenix awake.

"I didn't wake you, did I?"

"Nah." His voice as thick with slumber. Edgeworth wondered if he was actually awake or simply talking in his sleep. "Head hurts."

"Would you like something for it?"

"Nngh." Phoenix groped blindly beside both of them for a moment, finally locating Edgeworth's hand. He positioned it gracelessly on the back of his head and grunted out a noncommittal noise, prompting a chuckle from the prosecutor.

"How terribly eloquent," he murmured, indulging the wordless request for a head scratch. Absentmindedly stroking his fingers through the raven locks, he went back to reclining and listening to the other man sleep, soaking up the chance to decompress from the last two weeks. How quickly his life had changed. He wondered if his father could see him now, if he'd be proud of him. What he could remember of his father, he'd always been such a serious man, but warm and kind, as well… Thinking critically, he couldn't say with any integrity that his father would have liked the person Edgeworth had become before Phoenix had found him.

He could feel his left leg beginning to fall asleep from the weight of the man using him for a pillow, but he minded little. After nearly twenty years of misery and struggling alone, he could safely say that in this moment, he could die and still remain satisfied that he had accomplished good in his life. Perhaps it was still the afterglow, but he couldn't ever remember feeling quite this complete with any of his other partners. Not, he amended, that any of them had ever cared enough for him to save a childhood keychain in his memory, either…

His memory drifted back to one of the few times he could remember feeling as though he still had friends in the world, when he'd gone shopping with Franziska and her father. He hadn't thought of it in years, not until Phoenix had sparked the flashback with his gentle, sad reminder of all the ways he'd tried to contact him… A laugh threatened to fight its way out of him at how ridiculously serious it had felt at the time to hear the radio station call out to him.

"Signal Red, hope you're well! We miss you, from Signal Blue!"

It was as though the hand of God had come down and touched him that day, knowing that his friends still remembered and cared for him, in spite of his absence. Well, one of them, anyway. He still felt awkwardly unworthy of the other man's loyalty over the years, but he was certainly grateful to have it.

Finally shifting himself down, he winced as his body protested from Phoenix's earlier ministrations. It had been a long, long time since he'd let anyone take him in such a way, but between Phoenix's victory and Miles' desire to see a different side of him, he regretted nothing other than the stretches he'd been neglecting lately. Even so, it made it terribly difficult to maneuver the two of them into a comfortable sleeping position, and he finally had to relent to waking the other man in order to shift him over.

Phoenix moved happily enough, rolling over until his head was just on the barest minimum of his own pillow. Sleepy blue eyes watched with mild interest as Edgeworth slid the blankets overtop both of their bodies. Once he was settled, defense embraced prosecution languidly, draping a lifeless arm over the curve of a naked hip. "Miles?"

"Hm?"

When there was no response, gray looked down to see expectant blue, and the gaze produced a chuckle before the man leaned down to kiss his lover. When he pulled away, he shook his head, and then: "I looked up the case where you stood trial against Dahlia." He couldn't hold it in anymore.

To his surprise, Phoenix giggled. "Good thing I was lying down for that one."

"You…aren't upset with me?"

The other attorney stretched, catlike, unable to keep the smile off of his face. "I stood trial for murder, during which my girlfriend testified against me. Who in the world could resist, much less you?" He seemed to consider it further before another quiet laugh bubbled from him. "Pretty sure I could tell you that I wrote a chicken cacciatore recipe when I was twelve and you'd manage to track it down by day's end."

Despite Phoenix's teasing tone, Edgeworth frowned. "I didn't realize I was so—"

"—good at what you do, is what I'm sure you were about to say," Phoenix reached up and silenced the man's protest with a finger against his lips, only relenting when he was certain Edgeworth had swallowed his self-deprecation. He dragged the fingertip downward, tracing over the prosecutor's chin, his adam's apple, his chest… Only once he'd traced the man's navel and gone up and over his hip did he shake his head and grin sideways at his partner. "I knew from the moment you'd asked about her that you'd stop at nothing to get a hold of that case."

"You told me not to."

"Yeah, because saying her name out loud is as good as summoning her with a Ouija board. Didn't even have to, and look what still happened." His frown was childish, and it made Edgeworth grin.

"I did something else while you were…preoccupied."

Phoenix's eyebrows rose sharply for a moment, his smirk electric. "Oh? Want to…share?"

The prosecutor snorted. "Nothing quite so lewd, I'm afraid, considering you were on your deathbed…" he shifted onto his belly and turned his head toward his lover, still marveling at how comfortable things felt just lying around and talking with no pressure to do anything but to simply enjoy each other. "I had your piano tuned for you."

"What—really?!" Phoenix popped up onto his elbows and stared down at Miles in excitement. "I—that's amazing! I wonder what it sounds like!"

The prosecutor watched him, immensely pleased with the reaction. "There's a secondary appointment to get some things fixed on it. It's in surprisingly good shape for having been through all the abuse you mentioned."

Phoenix stared at him in awe for a moment, then, unable to restrain himself, kissed the man. It was awkward and aggressive, but lighthearted, forceful only by virtue of the exhilaration and gratitude that inspired it to begin with. Edgeworth laughed at the advance, returning in kind as best he was able. The defense attorney's smile was bright and childlike as he beamed down at his partner. "That…means a lot, Miles. Thank you."

"Mm. You can thank me by playing for me tomorrow evening after dinner." He allowed his eyes to slide shut as he finally began to feel sleep overtaking him. "Don't think I've forgotten about your promise."

Phoenix snorted beside him before sliding down onto his back, hooking a leg over Edgeworth's in a stubborn unwillingness not to be connected to him somehow. "Fine, I'll clean up, but that doesn't mean you won't still have to read the menu to me when we get there unless you want me to eat a whole meal of salad and bread. Bet me I won't."

Edgeworth snuck a hand up just as Phoenix started another sentence and gently covered the man's mouth, taking advantage of his position to hide his grin against the attorney's shoulder. There would be growing pains, to be certain, but as the two of them lie there enjoying the night breeze through the window and the gentle reassuring weight of their bodies pressed together, each one knew privately that this was finally the way things were supposed to be.