[RL 5: Home Invasion; Phoenix, Edgeworth] [Backdated]

[samuraiprosecutor]

((OOC: Backdated to Monday evening, follow-up to this thread and their conversation in it.))

At first he didn't hear the knocking; the sound of it was drowned out by that of Edgeworth rather loudly blowing his nose - an act which, oddly enough, lasted just the duration of the knock. There was about a half a minute of silence (that strange, muffled silence that resulted from clogged ears) in which Edgeworth turned back to the work on his monitor.

The lines were blurring, and had been for the past hour. He rubbed roughly at the bridge of his nose, cursing the pounding in his forehead; the headache had developed around the time he'd last posted on his online journal, and he had no doubt there was a connection.

This time, when the knock sounded from the front door, he heard it.

'Who in the world...' Brows furrowing, he stood (a bit more shakily than he would have liked) and threw on the robe that had been left hanging on the back of his chair. He hurried to the foyer, face already assuming an expression calculated to drive away the unwanted solicitor, and yanked open the door.

Comments

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix stood outside the apartment door, wondering what on earth was taking so long. Perhaps Edgeworth HAD called it a night and gone to bed, but if he knew the prosecutor at all, that was the least likely scenario. He would die before he left his precious paperwork, Phoenix thought dryly. He knocked again, this time with greater force.

At least it gave him a few moments to catch his breath; biking from his office to Edgeworth’s apartment was no small feat, after all. He leaned against the doorframe, but the door suddenly flew open and Phoenix immediately stood straight. He forced himself to breathe evenly, though he knew the bead of sweat trickling down the side of his face would most likely betray his efforts.

He didn’t say anything; he simply folded his arms and furrowed his brows, matching Edgeworth’s gaze evenly.

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth's glare dissolved into a wide-eyed gape, and it took an unforgivable few seconds for him to wrest control of his senses back from the flu-induced fog that was still stifling his mind. His eyes fixed on a line of sweat dripping down Wright's slightly reddened face, and he shuddered, glare returning in full force.

The man truly didn't know when to quit. 'Damn you, Wright, and that rusted monstrosity you rode in on.'

"Leave. Now."

[attorneyatlol]

Edgeworth didn’t look well at all: there were dark circles under his eyes, his nose was chapped and red, and his skin could no longer be called fair so much as pasty.

Phoenix’s frown deepened; why was Edgeworth doing this to himself? “Not without some paperwork.”

[samuraiprosecutor]

"I wonder..." Edgeworth shifted his weight, further blocking the door. "If I were to call the police and report a stalker, how long would it take you to get everything cleared up down at the station? And what is the cost to recover a bicycle from impound?"

[attorneyatlol]

“I wonder…” Phoenix began, unwavering as he held Edgeworth’s gaze. “If you were to hand over some of your workload and actually let yourself get some rest, how long would it take for you to choke on your pride?”

[samuraiprosecutor]

He could feel the irritation blossoming into anger, accompanied by an embarrassing sort of petulance. If he was going to choke on anything it would be the help that Wright kept trying to force down his throat. It was as if the man fancied himself a white knight, riding to the rescue on his rusty steed, and Edgeworth was finding it even more annoying than that mindless prince who'd recently posted at the community.

"Sadly, you're never going to get an answer to that question. I can only hope you obsess over it as incessantly as you do my paperwork." And he swung the door firmly, waiting for the satisfying sound of it shutting in Wright's face.

((OOC: Totally stole 'rusty steed' from Phoenix-mun, natch.))

[attorneyatlol]

“H-hey, wait!” In an instant, Phoenix’s hands slammed against the door, meeting surprising resistance—Edgeworth certainly was strong for a guy with the flu. “I didn’t come here to give you a hard time, really!”

[samuraiprosecutor]

The sudden halt in the door's forward momentum sent a slight shock up his arms. Instinctively his body kept pressing, harder, and was met with equal resistance, even after he leaned his weight into the wood.

He stopped pushing, though he held the door in place still, somewhere more closed than open, and exerted enough pressure to test for any signs of Wright relaxing. "Then why did you come here?"

'If he says 'Because I care.' I will kick this door shut.'

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix sighed through gritted teeth and adjusted his weight against the door, trying to match that of Edgeworth’s. “I just... I just want to help. Have you even looked at yourself, lately?!” Once more locking his dogged gaze with the prosecutor’s own weary (and equally determined, of course) one, his expression quickly softened, as did his voice.

The sharp undertone was relentless in both, however.

“You need to sleep, Edgeworth. Believe me, I have no doubt that you can stay up all night, filling out mountains of paperwork,” (just like the other night when you fell asleep on your keyboard, he silently added) “but is that what you really want to do?”

[samuraiprosecutor]

The headache had turned into a staccato beat somewhere between his nose and his frontal lobe, but it didn't hinder Edgeworth's level stare. Wright's expression was all too familiar, but it held no pity, at least. Pity would not have been tolerated, and even the concern Wright was making abundantly obvious was almost too much to stomach.

They were still leaning their weight on either side of the door. 'You're acting like children.'

The thought hurt, more than he would admit to. Dropping his gaze he slowly swung the door back open, though he didn't move out of Wright's way.

"You don't care to know what I want. If you did, you'd listen when I tell you I am fine."

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix nearly stumbled when the weight of the door was taken away, but he caught himself at the last minute and straightened up, his gaze never once leaving Edgeworth’s. A small frown grasped at the corners of his mouth and he folded his arms, regarding the other man almost sadly. “Maybe I’d be more inclined to listen if you weren’t looking at me with bloodshot eyes.”

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth raised his eyes defiantly to meet Wright's, as if putting their redness on full display. "Would you?" He smirked, but his gaze held none of the amused arrogance that usually accompanied the look.

"Would you listen if I told you that I don't want your concern, or anyone else's? If I told you I want people to stop trying to run my life for me?" He shook his head slightly, the smirk still plastered on his lips. "Because if that's all it takes to get you to listen, I've got some Visine in the medicine cabinet."

[attorneyatlol]

The words stung and Phoenix furrowed his brow to compensate for the burn, eyes narrowed steadily at Edgeworth. “So, what, you’d be happier if everyone hated you? I know you’re not the most social guy, but I find it hard to believe that!” He shook his head roughly, his fingers twitching with nervous energy—if he were in court, he would’ve slammed the podium by now.

“You’re confusing concern with people trying to control you, Edgeworth. Not only is that completely unjustified, it’s a pretty damn harsh accusation! I… We just want you to take care of yourself. Why is that so hard to believe?”

[samuraiprosecutor]

Edgeworth frowned. "It would certainly be easier than this ridiculous fawning."

'Or at least more familiar,' his mind supplied, and he almost sighed.

Before him Wright was practically buzzing with energy, contrasting sharply with his own fatigue and the hollowness of the words. The attorney in Wright was making itself known. This battle would be uphill in the midst of a blizzard, if he knew the man (and he thought he did). With the questions becoming more uncomfortable as they went on, if those were any indication.

Clearly a decision needed to be made.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose and leaning a bit of his weight on the door he was still holding open, Edgeworth replied, "If, hypothetically speaking, I were to give you paperwork, would you stop pestering me and let me continue my work in peace?"

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix wasn't sure he agreed with this theoretical proposal: help Edgeworth with is workload so the man would be free to do more work? He shook his head. "Maybe on one condition. If, hypothetically speaking, I stopped "pestering" you and let you get back to your work, would you... would you promise to--"

He sighed, nearly fed up with the whole situation, but backing down now would defeat the entire purpose of coming here and Phoenix was nothing if not determined. Letting his hands fall to his sides, his voice, while still maintaining a sharp undertone, took on a more pleading tone as he continued, "Would you promise to let yourself get some rest after? For yourself, if nobody else?"

((OOC: Yay, short sucky reply after you've been waiting for five days. GO ME.))

[samuraiprosecutor]

The man was truly sounding like a broken record at this point. The offer was giving Edgeworth an out, though, one which he was fed up enough to consider: peace, for a promise of relaxing after his work was done. Which was, obviously, what he had planned to do from the beginning.

Of course, he would be going back to work as soon as he was well enough to, but he didn't need to bring that up now. Besides, the sooner his work was done, the more time there would be for him to relax before that happened. Better to get it done now and have time to rest than to keep working until he had to go back to court.

Finally making his decision, and rolling his eyes exaggeratedly, he replied, "Once my work is done I will be more than happy to rest, and take a break...from everything." He punctuated the last by cocking an eyebrow pointedly.

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix wasn’t stupid. He didn’t miss the obvious emphasis or its less-than-subtle connotation, and he cursed himself for letting it sting as much as it did. The fact that his progress had taken a step back didn’t escape his notice, either, or that he was falling devastatingly short of his goal. Maybe this really had been a waste of time… What had he been hoping to do? It wasn’t as if he could burst into the apartment and force Edgeworth to sleep…

Still. Another look at the man’s bloodshot eyes and the black circles that surrounded them gave Phoenix pause and a sense of renewed determination, if only enough to make him stand a little straighter as his gaze turned expectant.

Maybe he could still turn this around, or at least get a last word in…

He held out his hand, waiting. “Well? Papers?”

[samuraiprosecutor]

The victory wasn't as decisive as he would have liked, or on as epic a scale, but Edgeworth wasn't about to take it for granted.

Without a word he turned sharply on his heel and started down the hall, belatedly wondering if Wright would enter the apartment, and hoping the man would at least have the decency to wipe his feet if he did.

[attorneyatlol]

Phoenix, valuing his life, did not enter the apartment. He stayed put outside the door, taking a curious (perhaps nosy) glance inside, but from his vantage point, things seemed relatively unchanged since the last time he was there.

A tickling at the back of his throat reminded him that he’d forgotten to take the necessary precautions when coming over—namely the surgical mask—and he sincerely hoped he wasn’t getting sick. Though, after some consideration, he supposed he wouldn’t have been taken as seriously if he’d shown up in such a getup…

Besides, it was worth it. At least if he got sick, he’d be sure to take care of himself.

[samuraiprosecutor]

Within a minute Edgeworth was back in the foyer, thick stack of papers in his hands and a satisfied smirk settled firmly on his face.

He made no move to hand the pile over just yet, instead asking (calmly and, as far as his voice revealed, sincerely) "Will this do? If it's too much I can certainly keep some."