samuraiprosecutor | [RL 52: There's no way this could end badly; Edgeworth, the Corinthian]

That surface shifted only slightly under the contact, but otherwise gave no other indication of being anything too strange. And for several long moments nothing else happened.

But there might also have been some resistance when Edgeworth had pulled his arm away. That earned a small noise from....somewhere, and the figure beside him finally moved itself, rolling over as it tried to bury into the warm covers.

That was most definitely not a sound he should be hearing in his bedroom. Edgeworth's eyes shot open as something large rolled and shifted on the bed beside him, barely disturbing the heavy memory foam mattress.

It was still pitch black in the room. He couldn't make out even the silhouette of whatever was lying before him, but this scenario was all too familiar. Thanks to the community, he'd been woken up under similar circumstances several times before. The only real question was who was he to be saddled with this time?

Grumbling quietly under his breath, Edgeworth slowly rolled over and moved to slip out of the bed, hopeful that he could at least confront the intruder from a more dignified position.

The resistance was still there, and firmer this time. More obvious. Something seemed to follow as the man moved, and that was all it took for the form next to him to curse and move, sitting up as well.

The Corinthian jerked his arm back over to him with a grunt that was still clouded with sleep. He had only just gotten to sleep himself, climbing into bed the moment he had gotten home, and being woken up so soon was....a little irritating, to say the least. His first instinct was to shoo the damn cat out of the bed and try to get in just another few hours of blissful unconsciousness, and he reached for more of the covers to do just that.

And he felt the bed again. After another moment he looked around the room, blinking against the darkness, and sat up fully. This....wasn't his room. It was too dark, too closed up. And yet, still familiar.

"Fucking hell...."

Before he made it out of the bed, there was a sharp tug on his wrist, pulling him up short.

Yes, this scenario was all too familiar.

Edgeworth cursed, more loudly than before, and crouched on the edge of the bed, listening to the figure stirring beside him, waiting for some clue as to who he was dealing with. That voice, once he recognized it, was welcomed with a grateful sigh. At least it was someone tolerable.

"Good morning to you, too," Edgeworth said dryly.

Exactly the voice he was hoping for. Well, that was alright then, and when the nightmare rolled over to glance at Edgeworth he looked and sounded considerably more relaxed.

"I guess there are worse ways to start it," he replied casually, his voice strangely calm, as he rubbed at his own stinging wrist. He couldn't quite make it out in the darkness but he could definitely feel something was there now. It itched, whatever it was, and pinched at his skin when he attempted to tug it off. He hadn't expected it to do any good, and wasn't at all surprised when the material didn't budge a bit.

Absently, he patted at his pockets; still jeans. Good. Now where was his.... "How many times does this make, now? I'm starting to lose track."

"Are we only counting times the both of us woke up together? I went through this with Wright as well." He was examining his own wrist and coming up with the same information. Whatever this was, it was a far cry from the sleek leather leash that had been strapped to his wrist that first time. By the time this was over, he expected his wrist to be rubbed raw.

Thoughts of the leash turned his mind to Sieghard, seemingly just as the dog awakened. A quiet, jingling noise suddenly sounded beside the bed, and he reached out with his free hand and ran his fingers through Sigi's fur and around his soft muzzle. As he did that, he also pulled gently on the bond at his wrist, testing how much freedom they'd be working with.

"Just the waking up." Something about that tone was almost....sharp, in a way, but the feeling disappeared as quickly as it came when the Corinthian finally found the small switchblade in his pocket and tugged his arm back. Again. Having someone stuck to him yet again going to be troublesome, make maneuvering around and getting anything done more than a little difficult. And he doubted this would work any better than pulling at the bind had been, but anything was worth trying at least once.

He hissed as the knife slipped all too easily from the rope without leaving so much as a tear. At least until the blade nicked skin instead. That answered that question. The weapon was closed with an irritable click and stashed away again, leaving the nightmare to look thoughtfully over at his companion. He didn't have a pair of sunglasses with him this time, nothing to block the teeth that framed his stare. "I hope you don't have to be at work for a while."

"Then this makes three times, at least." The sharp tone went unremarked, if not unnoticed. After all, the man had just been transplanted from his home and left to endure someone else's company for who knew how long. Irritation was perfectly understandable.

...Though the painful jerk on his arm did seem a bit excessive.
Edgeworth continued to idly pet Sigi and listen to his companion, but the sounds were difficult to interpret and becoming acclimated to the dark hadn't helped his vision much. He finally leaned over and fumbled to turn on the light on the nightstand.

"Not anymore." He turned back to his companion, and had to make a valiant effort to keep a flicker of fear off his face. Those eyes weren't easy to wake up to, especially not when one was unprepared for them. "There's some work here. I'll have to call in and pray this doesn't last beyond the weekend. What about you?"

That brief spark of fear didn't go unnoticed; it never did. Normally the nightmare would take it as his cue to look away, maybe fumble around for his glasses. But his gaze didn't let up for some time....almost as if he was studying the man.

He shook his head, and smiled a little before he looked down at....rope. Ah. "I was actually taking off for a few days anyway, so it's clear on my end."

"Marvelous. Perhaps we'll make a weekend of it." There was only a trace of sarcasm in the reply. The situation could have been far worse, and after years of this idiocy he was learning to be grateful for the small mercies they were so rarely shown.

The nightmare's attention lingered long enough to make Edgeworth want to squirm under his unnatural gaze. Ever mindful of his friend's self-consciousness, he had forced himself to hold his gaze until he was released before he turned away and climbed out of bed. The tie—a rope, how...common—was pulled taut and wouldn't allow him to move any further than the bedside, so he stood there in his pajama pants with his arm raised, watching his companion expectantly.

"I'm sad to say that I don't have any new movies I could at least offer to this." Wait, they were getting up already? Damn. The nightmare was almost tempted to lay back down and hope that, just maybe, Edgeworth would take it as a hint to go back to bed too, but with a small sigh he moved to untangle himself from the sheets and grudgingly climbed out as well.

"But that does sound like as good a plan as any," he finally agreed.

"I'm sure we can find some way to occupy ourselves...when I'm not occupying myself with work, of course." He glanced at the clock on the nightstand—6 am, definitely late enough to be up and doing something with the day, even if their choices were limited.

Sigi was pressed close against Edgeworth's side, watching their unexpected guest intently. Edgeworth moved around him towards the door, brushing shoulders with the nightmare as he squeezed past. "Any preferences for breakfast?"

The Corinthian only continued to stare after him, as he absently reach up to rub where they're shoulders had brushed.

He gave the man a small shrug he couldn't see. "Nothing that you would have, so don't worry about it," he replied easily, giving Sigi a quick pat on the head before he felt himself being tugged along, and he followed close behind Edgeworth as they left the room. It was really as far as the rope would allow them to be. "And you could put off work for a day or two, couldn't you? Maybe we could actually do something fun."

"Are you so sure? I've got lunch fare, if you'd prefer." Sieghard came up behind them on their way to the kitchen, insinuating himself artfully between the nightmare and his master while they walked.

At the Corinthian's suggestion, Edgeworth paused in the hall, glancing back over his shoulder, his eyebrow cocked curiously. "Such as?"

And the moment Edgeworth stopped the nightmare stepped around the dog to settle right behind the man, arms winding lazily around him waist. He leaned over his shoulder, three small smirks crossing his face.

"I'm sure we could come up with a few things...."

Caught completely by surprise, Edgeworth jerked away from the contact with enough force to send him stumbling into the wall if the Corinthian's grip didn't hold. Behind them, Sigi lowered his head and stared warily at the scene, his hackles raising.

Thankfully, the grip did hold. Tightened, even, and quickly pulled the man back against him when he started to stumble.

But once he was sure that Edgeworth was no longer at risk of falling over he actually let his hold go slack--didn't let go completely, but if Edgeworth had wanted it wouldn't be at all hard to move away--and leaned back with a raised brow. "Or....not, then?"

Having his momentum interrupted led to Edgeworth falling back heavily into the nightmare's grip. He tensed, gritting his teeth while a rather vehement curse flashed through his mind. This scenario was also disturbingly familiar...and if his suspicions were correct, this virus was going to be far less tolerable with only one of them affected.

"'Not' is good," he replied firmly, slipping out of the nightmare's uncomfortably casual embrace.

"You act like you know for sure what I even had in mind." His voice was flat, a frown replacing those smirks almost instantly. As much as the nightmare wanted to reach out and grab the man back, he managed, rather reluctantly, to hold off. At least for now. Instead, he crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall. "I think you're worrying your mutt over there."

Edgeworth frowned at the use of the word 'mutt,' but managed to restrain himself from commenting. He had every right to be frustrated over the situation, he was quite sure of that, but the Corinthian could hardly be blamed for their predicament. Lashing out at him wouldn't improve matters.

He glanced past the nightmare to confirm what he'd said: Sigi's ears were back and his hackles were up, and the tense line of his back made it clear he was waiting for a command to action. Edgeworth swallowed and said gently, "Sigi, komm." When the dog padded over, he leaned over to rub his head and neck vigorously before turning his attention back to his companion.

"Whatever you had in mind, the prelude was enough to tell me it wasn't of interest to me."

"You never know." The smirk was a bit thin when it returned, barely tolerant, but he made no other moves for the time being. That....hadn't been the way he wanted things to go. Not that he was surprised they did, but he didn't want Edgeworth to become upset with him for anything while they were together. Not when it would make things more difficult on both of them in the long run. He just wanted to spend a day or two relaxing with his friend before he was finally able to go and.....

....well, he'd just have to worry about that another time. For now he sighed, and he finally looked away as he awkwardly straightened up, though he stopped himself from walking over to where the other man stood. "If I have to be stuck here, I may as well make the most of it. I'm not just sitting around and watching you work all day this time."

The frown hadn't left his features. In fact, it only deepened as the conversation went on, until Edgeworth reminded himself of the assumption under which his friend was operating. Under those circumstances, Edgeworth's rejection took on a whole other meaning, and he was finding it difficult to press the matter hard enough to hurt. He sighed softly, shaking his head.

"So long as I'm left to my own devices, you're free to occupy yourself however you see fit. Once my work is done...I may be willing to join you, depending on what the entertainment of the moment may be."

If Edgeworth had been hoping to help placate the nightmare with his reply, it....wasn't quite the reaction he got. No, it earned a quiet scoff out of him, the smirk fading into a mildly exasperated frown as he moved, walked back over to him with a small shake of his own head.

And again he didn't pay any mind at all to Edgeworth's personal space.

"How often do I actually get to see you?" The question sounded almost genuinely hurt, but just one look at him could show that the feeling didn't quite reach much further. "You can work later."

Now that he could see it coming, now that there was a challenge inherent in the gesture, Edgeworth couldn't allow himself to back away from the intrusion into his personal space. Muscles tightening, he stood stock still and met the Corinthian's 'gaze' without a visible sign of trepidation.

"I will...directly after breakfast. Considering I should already be on my way to work by then, I think putting it off that long is more than generous." With a sharp accent on the last words and his eyes narrowed in warning, he turned and moved to stalk off down the hall, hoping to put an end to the conversation.

The man wasn't allowed to get very far; the Corinthian's reaction was quick, grabbing the rope between them and pulling Edgeworth back with a swift yank. Back against him, so he he could wrap an arm firmly around the man's shoulders. Keep him close.

"I was hoping you'd make this a little easier." It was a muttered response, only barely audible, but he shook his and looked at Edgeworth with a deceptively calm expression. "Later. Please?"

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