Rising Uncertainty

Jumped and Dumped

Miles didn't speak as he exited the bathroom with his wet clothes in his arms. He was more relaxed now that he was out of them and in something warm and dry. He was still cold, but it wasn't as bad.

Phoenix was caught strangely off guard when he looked at him. He had never seen Miles in anything so casual before and he found it oddly nice. He smiled slightly at Miles' now slightly messy hair and didn't realize he had been staring at him for a minute now.

Miles shifted under his gaze and looked away, his cheeks turning a little more red than they already were from embarrassment. He held his wet clothes closer to his chest and coughed lightly.

That seemed to snap Phoenix out of it. He blushed and shook his head before standing up.

"I'll put those in the dryer for you," He said with a smile.

Miles seemed to hesitate before nodding and letting Phoenix take his clothes. He'd have to get them dry cleaned later.

"I hope you don't mind... I used a towel to dry my hair," he said looking away.

"I don't care. Wet hair isn't fun when you're cold so I get it."

They were both quiet for a moment.

"So," Phoenix began. He didn't want to rush him but he also wanted to know what happened. "How did this happen?"

"I was jumped."

"You what?!" Phoenix practically yelled. He noticed Miles flinch and reminded himself to bite his tongue.

"Before it started pouring outside, I decided to go on a small walk to clear my head. I was... thinking over a few things. The next thing I knew I was rounding a corner and had the wind knocked out of me with a punch to the gut," he explained slowly. "I was pushed against a wall and my jacket and satchel were torn from me as someone else struck me..."

"Did they leave bruises?" Phoenix asked. It was the only thing he could think of at the moment as he thought about what he had just been told.

"I had been punched so hard I threw up, Wright... yes, I'm bruised. But I'll be alright. It's only on my torso and maybe the back of my head from when they knocked me unconscious-"

"They knocked you out?!"

"Wright, please let me continue without your interruptions. I want to spend little time talking about this," he said quietly, looking away. Phoenix just nods and urges him to go on. "After they took my satchel and jacket I was knocked unconscious with a blow to the head. It hurt like hell when I woke up at first but after an hour it faded... I... I had woken up on a bench in a park that I didn't recognize..." he seemed like he was debating on saying something.

"I was terrified." He said after a few seconds. "I didn't know where I was and I was in so much pain and I was soaking wet because of the rain... so I got up and ran... I didn't have my phone and I couldn't find one anywhere so I ran and ran and ran until my legs gave out. I was scared out of my mind, Wright."

Phoenix grabbed Miles' shaking hand and squeezed it lightly to try and help comfort him. Miles didn't seem to acknowledge it and instead continued with his story.

"I finally gave myself a chance to look at my surroundings and realized that you lived around there... I wasn't thinking properly so I ran straight here and... you know the rest..."

"I'm glad you came here so I could help you instead of you trying to go back to your office or something. I'm a little surprised you remembered where I live given that you don't seem to remember Payne being one of your co-workers." Phoenix smiled to try and lighten the mood.

"I try to only remember important things."

Phoenix didn't know how to respond to that. He slowly realized that Miles thought his address was important despite only ever being there a couple times before.
He stood up and grabbed a fluffy blanket from a closet and handed it to Miles. He was still shivering and Phoenix wanted to make sure he was warm.

"Thank you..."

"No problem. I'm glad I can help- speaking of help, shouldn't we contact the police about this-"

"No! I mean, no. I don't think it's necessary-"

"They have your wallet and your license and whatever else was in that bag of yours!" Phoenix was shocked at the prosecutor's response.

"Please stop interrupting me, Wright. I don't appreciate it in the slightest." He said before he just sighed heavily. "I'm sorry... I'm being rude even thought you were kind enough to let me in your home."

"It's fine Edgeworth. I'm just glad you're okay," he said with a small smile.

Miles smiled back lightly before he began to cough again. He covered his mouth of course and tried his best to stop. It hurt him to cough like this. He winced with each cough and seemed nearly desperate to stop himself from his violent coughing fit. He sniffled when he finally stopped and focused on his breathing.

"I am terribly sorry about that."

"You don't need to apologize for every little thing you can't help Miles."

Miles stopped completely and looked at Phoenix with slightly wide eyes. He had called him by his first name. That wasn't common and seemed to throw him off for a moment. He just shook his head and smiled.

"I'll keep that in mind Wright. I will." He wrapped the blanket around himself and relaxed more. "Do you have anything for pain by any chance? It's not too bad but it's still annoying."

"Oh right! Yeah, I'll go get it." Phoenix quickly got up and went to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and gave himself a smile before grabbing the medicine. Phoenix hesitated when he heard Miles coughing again before deciding to grab cold medicine. When he entered the living room again he noticed that Miles was hunched over, holding his stomach in his arms. He had been lying about how much pain he was in.

Miles just didn't want him to worry and in turn had waited until after they were done to get something for his pain.

"Miles..."

He stiffened when Phoenix said his name and realized he had noticed. His efforts had been for nothing after all.

"Why didn't you just tell me how badly you were hurting? We could have talked afterwards." Phoenix said as he got a glass of water.

Miles gave and empty chuckle and shook his head. "I didn't want it to seem bad."

"You're hurt and you didn't want it to 'seem bad'?! I could have helped you earlier. You're so stubborn sometimes."

"I know. I'll... I'm... Listen, I just didn't want you to worry more then you already were. You've done a lot for me in the past hour and I didn't want to come off as needy-"

Phoenix interrupted him with a laugh. "Needy? I wouldn't have thought you were being needy- I would have thought you needed help because something was wrong. That's not needy, Miles. You do know that, right?" His question seemed to force the prosecutor into silence. "Miles...?"

"Of course I do, Wright. I'm just tired... May I barrow your phone to call Detective Gumshoe? He'll take me back home."

Phoenix bit his lip and looked at Miles for a second.

"Why don't you stay the night? I want to make sure you're okay, ya know? Plus it's late and-"

Miles chuckled lightly at his friend.

"If you insist. I'll stay."