Miles ended up waking up a few hours later. He sat up feeling groggy, but the pain in his head was gone and he didn’t feel like he was going to throw up anymore. He slowly got out of bed and was heading for the door when he heard a conversation, he quickly recognized the voices and Y/N and Phoenix. He listened a moment through the door.
“I told you, I’m fine…” said Y/N sounding annoyed. “What do you think he’d do anyway? Have you met Miles? He eats burgers with a fork, do you really think he’d be the type to hurt me?”
Miles froze and raised an eyebrow, putting his ear to the door, they were talking about him.
“Look…” said Phoenix “I love the guy, he’s my best friend, but I know he has issues, one’s he’s never discussed with anyone, I don’t even know what they are, and I think they can lead to him being aggressive."
“Where is this coming from? All that happened last night was he got drunk and hugged me. You’re the one that got aggressive with him first. You were both wasted. He had a right to get angry and yell back at you.”
Phoenix shook his head “It wasn’t that that pissed me off, it was what he said before you arrived.”
“What do you mean? You were all laughing, you didn’t seem pissed at him?”
Miles’ eyes went wide ‘Oh shit…’ he thought ‘What the hell did I say?’
“He said, and I quote: Wright, your cousin is exquisite.” Said Nick in his best Miles impersonation “I’ll have you know that later this evening, I’m going to tie her up, spank her, and have my way with her…”
Y/N went red and her eyes wide. “He said excuse me? Did anyone else hear that?”
“No, Gumshoe was passed out and Larry was in the washroom at the time.”
Y/N pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “You don’t need to be afraid of Miles doing anything to me, he was just drunk.”
“I’ve never heard him speak like that, even though we were drunk, it kinda scared me. What if he comes over and like… forces himself on you. The more I think about it the more angry I am. That was so unlike Miles…”
Y/N shook her head, her holding it in her hands. “It’s fine, I promise.”
“How is it fine, Y/N?” asked Phoenix “You’re okay with him saying shit like that about you?”
“He was drunk, Nick!”
“So that’s an excuse?”
“I can take care of myself!”
Finally Miles couldn’t take it anymore, he wasn’t a passive person. He opened the door and walked out.
“Pardon me, if I may interrupt the two of you…”
Phoenix’s eyes went wide and Y/N couldn’t even look up from her hands.
“Okay, what the actual hell is going on??” asked Phoenix "Did you sleep here last night?? Did you fucking do what you said you’d do??”
“I did, in fact, sleep here last night in one of Y/N's guest rooms. I was extremely intoxicated and I can assure you, I literally don’t remember anything past my first few glasses of wine. Y/N was kind enough to open her home to me until I got some rest and felt well enough to be driven home. I want to apologize for what I said last night, for the way I acted. Wright, as you know, I hardly ever have more than one or two glasses of wine, and Y/N, I’ve expressed to you before how in my College years I had attended some parties and said and did things that I regret. While I don’t remember saying or doing what I’ve heard you describe of me last night, I would like to apologize to both of you. It was crude and extremely inappropriate. Frankly, I’m embarrassed.”
Phoenix stood there a moment and looked at both Miles and Y/N. He could tell something was up.
“…you two are having an affair, aren’t you…” he said matter of factly.
“… “
“…”
“Seriously guys, just tell me?? This is all so fucking weird.”
“Fine, Nick, yes. Okay? You happy???” asked Y/N, lowering her hands, her face bright red. “Miles and I have been…ugh…”
“It’s consensual and purely sexual…” said Miles, arms crossed.
Phoenix pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t even know what to say to this…” he said “So…you aren’t dating?”
“No…” said Y/N “We’re just having some fun until the right one’s come along…”
That sentence hurt Miles, but he stood tall, knowing that it was he who wouldn’t allow them to have a relationship because of his issues.
“…are you being safe?”
“OH my Lord…” said Y/N “This is so embarrassing, can we please stop this? I’m an adult, Miles is an adult. Can we just not talk about this anymore? Phoenix, can you please not tell anyone?”
“Yeah, I definitely won’t… and I appreciate you guys telling me, this is really weird though, to be honest…how long has this been going on?”
“No more than a month or two.” Said Miles.
Phoenix nodded “Alright, my mind’s at ease. I’ll butt out. I’m gonna head home, do you need a ride Edgeworth?”
“So I can get a lecture on not hurting your cousin or you’ll murder me? Sure, that sounds delightful.”
Phoenix chuckled “Right on, let’s go…”
....
After saying goodbye to Y/N, the two went down and got into Phoenix’s car in silence.
“So…” said Miles as Phoenix started to drive. “Shall I start, or would you like the honor?”
Nick laughed “I trust you Edgeworth, I just got wigged out and you both answered my question. What I wanted to ask was a bit in the other direction.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, why haven’t you just asked her to date you?”
Miles was silent a moment, caught off guard
“…because I don’t want to.” He said after a few moments.
“That’s bullshit. You two have been making eyes at each other since we were kids. What’s stopping you from asking her out?”
Miles sighed and rolled his eyes, arms crossed. “I don’t want to go into detail, but I have abandonment and trust issues. If we were to enter into a relationship I would end up hurting her, emotionally, I know I would. This is as close as I can get to her.”
“Well, apparently you’ve gotten pretty close.”
“I am surprised you aren’t more upset.”
“Well, I guess if she’s going to bang anyone, knowing that she’s banging my best friend instead of some random asshole I don't know makes me feel better.”
“I appreciate your understanding.”
Phoenix smirked “You know when we were kids, she’d never shut up about you.”
Miles kept himself from blushing. “That so?”
“Mhmm. You really meant something to her… when you left without saying a word, I think it really hurt her.”
Miles nodded and looked down. “I still feel awful about that. Watching your father be murdered in front of you does alter one’s mind though.”
“N-no, no I understand. I’m sorry to bring up bad memories. I just think that she thought that she could comfort you.”
“She was in New York at the time, it wouldn’t have been possible.”
“She came for the funeral, her parents let her.”
Miles was silent a moment, his mind remembering that day. He didn’t even talk to his friends, he sat up front with von Karma and didn’t shed a tear, numb and broken. Afterwards, his friends and their parents tried to show him their condolences, but he just wanted to be alone so he avoided them. When he went to get into the black Lincoln to leave he heard Y/N call out his name. He paused and locked eyes with her a moment, his filled with nothing, hers filled with tears, Phoenix and Larry stood beside her. He then looked away, got in the car, and it drove off. That was the last time Y/N saw him before their recent reconnection, and that was the last time Phoenix saw him before they reconnected in the courtroom.
Miles sighed “I regret that… I regret not talking to her that day, or you. I was just so defeated that I couldn’t deal with anything. I retreated into myself, I didn’t want any contact.”
“Everyone grieves differently.”
“…she meant a lot to me.” said Miles “I remember in school I was known to be decent looking-“
“Ha! Decent looking? The girls all wanted you and the boys wanted to be you.”
Miles smirked “I didn’t want to sound vain… but yes, alright, the girls spent their time chasing me… but I didn’t care for any of them, I just looked forward to the summer when your cousin would visit. I didn’t have a hard life before my father perished, although the weight of losing my mother always did hold a bit if a dark cloud over me. But Y/N's light had the ability to take even the slightest bit of depression away. She is such a ray of sunshine, even with her filthy language.”
Phoenix chuckled “Yeah, Y/N’s great. You two would be perfect together.”
“Can we please just leave it for now? I am enjoying what we have. If something changes and my anxiety lessens surrounding the situation, then perhaps, but I don’t see that happening in the near future.”
“Fair enough, I appreciate you telling me as much as you did.”
“I understand you being protective of your cousin.”
“Hey, you wanna grab a bite to eat?”
“Yes please, may I suggest Denny’s? If I remember correctly, grease really helps with hangovers.”
“Haha, sounds good.”