#spodiddly

“Okay,” Phoenix pronounced breathlessly after they’d labored for about an hour and a half. He surveyed the fruit of their effort: a large, roughly-circular pile of crinkly fallen leaves in various shades of brown and red and orange (it looked around 5 feet in diameter, Miles thought). Apparently satisfied with what he saw, Phoenix nodded. “It looks good.”

“Good?” Miles repeated, eyes scanning the leaves doubtfully. It just looked like an uneven mass of dead foliage to him.

“Miles, just go with me on this, all right?” said Phoenix, and then he linked his arm through the other boy’s. Miles started a little, surprised at the sudden contact, but before he could react, Phoenix was speaking again. “On 3, we’re going to jump in.”

“W-We are?” Miles said weakly. He was still wearing his nice school clothing. Father would be quite upset if he were to get it dirty… And anyway, wouldn’t jumping in just mess up the pile they’d spent so long putting together?

Phoenix didn’t seem to notice his hesitance. He had crouched down slightly and was eyeing the leaves like a cat ready to pounce. “1… 2...”

“Ph-Phoenix,” he protested,  “wa—”

“3!” he shouted. Miles was pulled along as Phoenix barreled forward and leaped, although in Miles’s case, it was more like falling face-first into the pile.

Miles’s first thought was that it smelled a little musty. The leaves were soft under his clothed elbows and knees, but scratchy against his exposed hands and face. Phoenix was laughing, a sound of pure joy that Miles couldn’t help but respond to with a smile of his own. The other boy rose up on all-fours, and then flopped over onto his back, sprawling his limbs out. He was clearly the expert here, so Miles followed suit. The leaves crunched loudly next to his ears like popcorn in the microwave, settling from being disturbed with the weight of the two boys. The October air was crisp, and cold enough to make Miles shiver.

But staring up at the bright blue autumn sky, listening to Phoenix’s and his own heavy breaths rise in little clouds as they recovered from all the hard work, Miles could definitely see the appeal of it all.

Miles’s head whipped to the side at the sound of leaves rustling, and he caught sight of Phoenix’s arm feeling around blindly near his own. Almost by reflex, Miles stretched his own arm out a little further and wrapped his fingers around the other boy’s, and then suddenly Phoenix was pulling him to his feet.

Phoenix’s cheeks were pink from the cold and from the exertion, and his deep blue eyes were sparkling. His mouth, still open to take in deep breaths, was turned up at the corners. “Was it fun?” he panted expectantly.

“There is a sort of charm to it,” Miles replied.

His friend just huffed a laugh that emerged as a puff of white, grinning at him. Miles smiled back, feeling his own cheeks warm. He liked the way the other boy’s face lit up when they locked eyes. After a moment, though, Phoenix’s expression changed. His cheerful face transitioned into something curious, his eyebrows drawing together and his eyes searching Miles’s face. Miles wasn’t sure why, but his heart started beating a little faster. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Phoenix, suddenly.

“Don’t move, Miles,” Phoenix said, which was redundant, because Miles felt quite incapable of movement at the moment anyway. Phoenix’s eyes were holding him in place, and he found himself without any desire to move at all. Phoenix reached up a hand toward Miles’s face. Miles screwed his eyes shut as small fingers touched the side of his head, his heart pounding in his chest, anticipating… something. Phoenix was running his hands through Miles’s hair, gently, so gently…

“There,” his friend said after a moment that felt like forever, sounding satisfied, and Miles’s eyes snapped open. His heart was leaping like he had just been having a dream about falling from a cliff. His mind was whirling in confusion. His head was still tingling where Phoenix had touched.

The bafflement he felt must have showed on his face, because Phoenix laughed a little when he stepped back. “You had leaves,” he explained, gesturing to Miles’s head. “All over in your hair.”

Miles decided, as the cold air stung against his heated cheeks, that he quite liked the fall.

It was autumn again, Miles mused. It always made him feel a tad nostalgic, although he’d be reluctant to tell anyone why or how.

He pressed the button on his keys to lock his car, and then just took a moment to stand there outside.

The trees, with leaves in all the colors of sunset, looked much the same as they had 25 years ago. The cold was bracing, and Miles tucked his hands into his pockets against the chill when the wind tousled his hair. The air felt just like 25 years ago, as well.

His eyes fell on the pile of leaves sitting innocently in the front yard, beneath a hardy maple tree whose semi-bare branches stretched over it protectively.

It was a larger pile than the one he’d made with Phoenix in his youth. The leaves were curled and mostly brown, since they had fallen last week, and some of them looked so brittle that Miles thought they would probably crumble away if touched.

Miles Edgeworth was not the sort of man to jump into a leaf pile. He hadn’t been even at 9 years old.

But the memory of that afternoon was still vivid and bright in his mind: The sound of the leaves settling and crackling around his head. The cold air making him feel like he was about to sneeze. The blush in Phoenix’s cheeks after he’d pulled Miles to his feet. The feeling of Phoenix’s fingers carefully brushing leaves out of his hair.

Remembering all of these precious things, a small part of him wanted to be the kind of person who leaped into leaf piles, if only to test whether it would be just as memorable the second time.

“Why are you still standing out here?” a voice suddenly came from the front door, and the prosecutor’s head whipped over to face the source of the sound. Phoenix offered him a slight smile. The deep blue of his knit sweater brought out his eyes, even at a distance. “Aren’t you going to come in? We haven’t eaten yet.”

One half of Miles’s mouth raised into a smile that would probably have been embarrassingly sappy if he’d let it be. Many things had not changed since that day, like the leaves or the cold or the endless blue sky, but this was one thing that definitely had. “I was thinking about that time we raked leaves as children,” he confessed.

His partner smiled and stepped outside, shutting the door. “Oh yeah?” he prompted, voice curious.

“Yes,” Miles continued. “In retrospect, I think I might have been allergic to those leaves. I couldn’t stop sneezing after that.”

Phoenix laughed, and made his way over to stand next to him. “Maybe. But it was fun anyway, right?”

Miles snaked an arm around his waist. “Mm,” was all he said. They stood there a moment quietly.

“Hey, Miles,” Phoenix suddenly spoke up, and the prosecutor raised an eyebrow, encouraging him to go on. “We should do it again.”

Miles blinked, a little uncertain as to his meaning. Ordinarily such a phrase would only be uttered in the privacy of their bedroom. “Pardon?”

“The leaves!” Phoenix clarified. “I haven’t had a good leaf-jump since back then.” His eyes were glittering, just like they had been all those years ago.

Miles couldn’t decide if he was relieved or disappointed that Phoenix had been talking about the leaves. “Did you not hear me when I said I thought I was allergic?”

“Well, yes, I heard you,” the defense attorney conceded, taking a step away so he could look at Miles better, “but… don’t tell me there’s not a part of you that doesn’t want to try it again anyway.”

Well, he couldn’t deny that. He heaved a sigh, pushing his glasses up his nose. “An infinitesimally small part, perhaps.”

“I’ll take it,” Phoenix decided. He looped his arm through his husband’s. “Ready?”

“No,” said Miles, “but that didn’t stop you the last time.”

Phoenix grinned, unapologetic. “On 3?” Miles gave the smallest of nods, so Phoenix bent at the knees a little and locked his eyes on the leaf pile. “1… 2…3!”

It was a lot better when you actually jumped instead of flopping into them face-first, but it didn’t smell any less musty and it certainly wasn’t less scratchy. Just as before, the most enjoyable thing was listening to Phoenix laugh in delight as they both turned over.

Phoenix’s hand found his as they lay spread out on their backs, but this time he didn’t pull Miles up. He just kept holding it. The sky was so blue it looked like a child’s drawing. The silence was broken only by the crackling of the leaves. It was peaceful for a moment.

“Good God,” Miles then realized all at once, “I’m still in my suit!”

His husband snickered. “Relax. That’s what a coat’s for.”

“For jumping into leaves?” Miles said dubiously.

“No, for protecting you against the elements,” Phoenix corrected. “Elements in this case being leaves.”

“That’s not an element.”

“Not with that attitude.” He sat up, and pulled Miles up to a sitting position as well. “Thanks,” Phoenix said after a few seconds.

Miles’s brow furrowed in confusion. “For what?”

He shrugged, and some leaves fell off his shoulders. “Remembering, I guess.”

“Of course I’d remember,” Miles snorted. “I’m not going senile yet, Wright.”

He smiled that lopsided smile with the softened eyes. It was Miles’s favorite of Phoenix’s facial expressions. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

He did know. Phoenix was thanking him for treasuring the memory of that day just as he had. “I could never forget the only time I’ve done something as foolish as jump into a leaf pile,” he said, but he smiled softly to let Phoenix know that he understood.

Phoenix reached for him then, and Miles let his eyes fall closed, waiting, but he felt only fingers in his hair, brushing through it tenderly. It was a very nostalgic sensation. When Miles opened his eyes again, Phoenix smiled, and pressed his forehead to the prosecutor’s, still brushing the back of his head.

“Leaves in my hair?” Miles questioned softly.

Phoenix nodded. “Just a few.”

“You did that back then, too,” Miles remarked, fighting a smile at the memory.

His partner’s cheeks went a little pink as he leaned back. “Yeah… I did, didn’t I?”

“You know,” Miles said hesitantly, “the way you were looking at me, I thought for sure you might… that you were trying to...” He cleared his throat, unable to finish the sentence, and felt his own cheeks warm as he averted his gaze. It was an unlikely notion. They had been but children, after all.

“...Kiss you?” Phoenix finished for him quietly, and Miles’s head whipped up again in surprise. The defense attorney looked embarrassed, his cheeks flushed as he stared down at his knees, still half-submerged in leaves. “Yeah. Um… I kind of wanted to. A little bit.”

Miles blinked, utterly dumbfounded. “Back then?” His voice was incredulous.

He shrugged, not meeting Miles’s eyes. “Your face was all pink, you were smiling at me, I’d just been holding your hand...” His eyes finally flicked up to meet Miles’s. “I really was getting leaves out of your hair… but there were only like two.” He ran a hand through his own spikes, a single leaf fluttering down from them. “Your hair was just so soft I didn’t want to stop touching it.” He lifted a hand to brush a strand away from Miles’s cheek. “Sorry. That’s… probably pretty weird.”

Miles grabbed his partner’s hand as it retreated from his face. “I don’t find it strange,” he told him. “I don’t think I realized it at the time, but...” He ran his thumb over the back of Phoenix’s hand, suddenly bashful. “When you touched me, I… think I wanted you to.” A pause. “Kiss me, that is.” He glanced up to gauge Phoenix’s reaction.

The soft smile was back. “Your face did get awfully red, and you had your eyes shut tight like someone was shining a flashlight in your face,” he remembered. “It was so cute.”

Miles gave him a light push to the chest. “Oh, shut up.” His face felt hot.

“It’s still cute,” Phoenix persisted. Miles should have shoved him away, but instead he let his partner shuffle closer and card his hands through his hair again. “I’m glad I can do this without there being leaves in your hair.”

“As am I,” Miles admitted, allowing himself to enjoy the sensation. “After all, I apparently only jump into a leaf pile once every 25 years.”

“Hey Miles,” Phoenix said, and Miles could tell from the tone of his voice that he was about to say something embarrassing. “You only jumped into that leaf pile then because I did, right?”

“Of course,” he responded immediately. “What of it?”

“Well, I was just thinking… since you jumped for me… doesn’t that also mean you fell for me?” The defense attorney’s eyes were glittering, his face lit up with amusement at his own terrible joke.

“Ugh,” said Miles with an eye-roll as he started to get to his feet.

“Noooo, Miles, don’t leave!” he laughed, throwing a handful of leaves at him halfheartedly. “Get it? ‘Leave’?”

“Why did I marry you,” Miles groaned, but he let Phoenix pull him back to the ground anyway.

His partner placed an arm on either side of him, kneeling on all-fours and leaning in close. “Because you love me,” he said quietly. “Right?”

“Yes,” Miles said simply, placing a hand on his cheek. “Although I find your jokes utterly intolerable.”

Phoenix smirked, and bent over him so close that Miles leaned backward, bracing his weight back on his hands. The prosecutor recognized what his partner wanted, and closed his eyes in time for Phoenix to meet his lips in a kiss. His mouth was warm in the midst of the cold air, but it wasn’t the cold that caused Phoenix to shiver as their kiss lingered. He leaned into Miles with enthusiasm until Miles was flat on his back, bracketed by Phoenix’s arms. Miles stretched his arms up to brush through Phoenix’s hair, and Phoenix let his weight fall gently against his husband’s chest, sighing and moving his mouth against his.

When they parted, Miles held Phoenix’s face between his hands, and he stared up at him, at his flushed cheeks and dark eyes and smiling mouth. “I’m going to have even more leaves now,” Miles complained without any bite to the words.

Phoenix leaned down for one more chaste kiss. “I’ll take care of them,” he promised, before taking Miles’s hand and helping him to his feet. Miles brushed off his coat, fragments of crumbled leaves clinging to it, while Phoenix shook leaves off his pant legs and picked them off his sweater. “Worth it,” he decided.

Miles huffed a short laugh, but nodded.

It was because of Phoenix, he thought to himself as he followed him into their house to have dinner at last, that he had been able to enjoy it. Both the jump, and the fall.

I’m back from being away for the weekend, so work will resume on PlayWright! Thanks to everyone who’s been waiting for it for your patience. I love you all so much!! <33333 (I also may have another fic on the horizon that involves fake dating and undercover work... ;) )

(Also, please remember that I have a Patreon here. If you would like a cute little Narumitsu fic and can spare 5 dollars, it would literally mean SO much to me.)