Work Text:
The first time Phoenix saw what would soon become his favorite customer going through his line, he thought nothing of it.
It was a pretty busy day at the store, and Phoenix didn’t really have time for small talk. It was a rush.
“Good afternoon. Did you find everything you were looking for?”
You know.
The usual.
A polite nod and the slightest hint of a smile accompanied Phoenix’s words, which were obviously well-practiced and not very genuine. As Phoenix started scanning items, he let his mind wander, as the customer in front of him didn’t really seem to have much to say. Phoenix gave him a quick once-over, finding nothing particularly of interest.
Sure, the kid was attractive.
Like, really, super-duper, incredibly attractive.
And alright, yes, fine, he was about Phoenix’s age, probably.
But he definitely didn’t go to Phoenix’s school.
And he really seemed like he was out of Phoenix’s league anyways.
And he would probably never see the kid again! So there was no point in talking to him.
“I’m pretty good, thanks for asking. My father was too busy to go shopping today so I had to do it for him, and I must admit, it’s not bad shopping alone. I found a lot of stuff that I didn’t need, but I don’t think that’s a problem, necessarily.”
Phoenix perked up at the sound of that kid’s voice. It wasn’t often that a customer would say something that actually meant anything. Usually they would say something generic, like “yeah, how are you?” or something stupid, like “I didn’t find a hundred dollars”.
Those customers were to be avoided at all costs.
But this guy? This guy seemed pretty okay.
He had a lot of stuff in his cart, but Phoenix had been at the job long enough to not really have to think about anything he was doing when he was scanning it. It was easy work, but it was tedious, and this order wasn’t going to end any time soon, so Phoenix was glad that the customer was talking for once.
“Your father, huh? Y’know, most kids just call that a dad.”
The kid in front of him blushed, and Phoenix felt any semblance of self-control disappear as he stared shamelessly at the customer. This was more than once-overing someone in the line of a different cashier. This had to be the start of a crush, which was really something that Phoenix didn’t need right now. He was busy, and there were five people behind the kid waiting to get their groceries scanned.
“Y-Yes, and what of it? I call him my father. It’s not like that’s illegal or anything.” The kid looked like he wanted to hide. He wouldn’t make eye contact.
All Phoenix wanted to do was look at him. He flushed at even thinking that, but it was true. He wanted to drop all the groceries he was scanning and just get a good look at this guy, get a feel for him, figure out what his deal was.
To talk to him.
To smile with him.
To—oh no, he scanned that wrong.
“Sure, it isn’t illegal, but a lot of things that are legal are weird. I would never call my dad ‘father’ or my mom ‘mother’. That’s like me calling them Steve and Amy. It’s just not a thing I’d ever do.” Phoenix shuddered for dramatic effect, and the kid seemed to soften at that.
“I suppose you have a point. I’ve always called him my father, though, and if I started calling him something else at this point he may fear that something’s gone amiss in our relationship. That’s the last thing I want. Additionally, are those really your parents’ names? Could I just look for a couple named Steve and Amy with a child named—” The customer leaned in to read his nametag. “Named Nick and find you?”
Phoenix raised his eyebrow without meaning to. Normally when he was working, he tried to keep on a face that showed no emotions, just in case a customer got angry at him and he didn't have time to switch into customer service mode. With this guy, though, he felt like he could just up and leave the store without repercussions. He felt completely calm around this customer.
“Well, I mean, Nick isn’t my actual name. It’s just the one that they actually had a nametag for. Next time you’re in here I’ll have to show you my new hire nametag. They took a label maker and put my name on a blank tag and called it a day. I never got my real one.”
The customer chuckled and Phoenix flushed, rubbing the back of his neck as he hit the total button on his keyboard. The cost sprung up on his computer and he started reading it as soon as Miles tried to respond, resulting in a jumbled mess.
“What?” They both responded at the same time.
Phoenix laughed. “You first.”
The other boy looked down at the ground with the faintest hint of a smile. “I said, is your name Nicholas? If so, I don’t understand why they wouldn’t have a tag for you.”
Phoenix shook his head, staring at the monitor in front of him. “And I said, your total is 128.32. I mean, 132.28. I mean, gosh, okay. Your total is, drumroll please, 123.38.”
Phoenix quietly hit the card button on his keyboard and watched as his customer finished paying for his groceries. The bagger helping him, ever the quiet one, gave Phoenix a pointed look, to which Phoenix flushed but didn’t respond. He helped put the last few items into a bag and pulled the receipt out of the printer, handing it to his customer with a rare, genuine smile.
“You saved 27.53. Have a wonderful day,” Phoenix grinned, unable to help himself.
“And you the same,” the customer responded, taking a few steps away with his cart before turning around.
“What’s your real name?” He asked, interrupting Phoenix right as he was about to greet his new customer.
“Phoenix.”
“I’ll see you later, Phoenix.”
Goodness, did Phoenix hope he would.
____________
The second time Phoenix saw him, he thought he'd be a little bit more prepared for the sight.
He was wrong.
The moment that customer walked into his line, Phoenix found himself unable to think about anything else. He may or may not have been rude, or at least what constitutes as rude to a customer, to the person he was currently scanning for.
It was difficult, after all, to check someone out when he was too busy checking someone out.
He couldn't help but smile to himself when he saw the view of that customer waiting patiently for him. He couldn't show the customer, obviously, but he'd been waiting for the next time he would see this guy. It was rare that he'd get a customer who would talk, but even rare that they would care enough to ask his real name.
His feet hurt and he was tired and he couldn't catch the laugh as he was struck by a sudden thought: is this guy a fairy? Is that why he asked my real name? It was a stupid thought, one that he couldn’t explain out loud even if he tried, but it was an entertaining one and it got him through that customer.
For what felt like an eon but was probably about four minutes, Phoenix scanned as quickly as he possibly could. His register read 29.68 items per minute—not his personal best, but certainly up there—by the time the boy his age was standing in front of him again.
Phoenix had to seem casual. He had to make it look like he hadn’t been thinking so much about Miles that he could barely contain his excitement. He had to make it seem like he wasn’t obsessed. He wasn’t sure quite why he needed to do that, because it was obviously rare that a good customer came along, but it felt like something that Phoenix probably shouldn’t tell that guy. How often was it that someone seriously crushed on someone else before they even knew that person’s name, after all?
Phoenix smiled confidently—probably a bit too confidently—at the customer as he greeted him.
“Good afternoon. Did you find everything you were looking for?”
Phoenix wasn’t able to see what the customer was doing, but he could hear the sound of him laughing and he wished more than anything that he could see it. Unfortunately, on the bottom of the cart, was a bag of dog food, and he had to scan it first.
“Do you have a dog?”
The customer raised an eyebrow at Phoenix, the corner of his mouth turning up into a smile. “First of all, you just said the exact same thing you said last time I was checking out with you. Second of all, I’m not buying dog food just for fun. Of course I have a dog. Her name is Pess and she’s approximately the greatest dog in the entire world.”
Phoenix smiled as he started scanning the rest of the groceries, flicking the conveyor belt on and wincing as it started to squeak. “Is it sad that I know your dog’s name but not your name?”
“Miles.” He stated, the hint of a smile still apparent on his lips. “My name is Miles Edgeworth. My father is a defense attorney and my mother is a spirit channeler. My dog is a mix of far too many breeds to name. I have two sisters who are al—”
“Hold it, Miles. Your mother is a what?” Phoenix had stopped scanning the moment he’d heard it, because he just had no idea what to make of that.
“A spirit channeler. Picture a medium, but she can channel the spirits physically, taking their form. Though, she can’t necessarily control them. It’s rather frightening to witness, if I’m to be completely honest.”
Phoenix blinked once. Twice. Three times. Took a deep breath and started scanning again. “Right. I don’t know what I was expecting. Cool. Back to your entire life story, customer who I’ve checked out once.”
Miles flushed. “Phoenix, as may have been apparent, I’m not well-versed in… small talk.” He grabbed his elbow, gritting his teeth and looking away from Phoenix, as though he were punishing himself for being unable to hold a conversation properly, which was ridiculous.
“Dude. Miles. I’m just kidding. I was enjoying hearing about you. It’s not every day that I get a customer who’s willing to talk, is all.And the whole spirit medium thing? That might be a topic for the third or fourth checkout. Wait for me to get comfortable, at least.”
Miles smiled at him, hiding his face behind his hand without seeming to realize it. “Perhaps you’re right. Either way, both of my sisters are also spirit channelers. It’s a very interesting dynamic that we share. We don’t get the chance to live with one another because of our parents’ jobs, so whenever they come over, on weekends like this, it’s almost as though we’re having a party celebrating our family rather than just seeing them like normal. It… it keeps things interesting.”
Phoenix couldn’t help but smile at that, though he didn’t look up from his scanning this time. “It seems like you really like your family, Miles. That’s pretty refreshing of a boy of, what?”
“If you’re asking my age, I’m seventeen.”
“No way, so am I.”
“How interesting. Then, am I alright in presuming you’re in your senior year of high school?”
Phoenix nodded his head as he finished scanning the last of his groceries. “Yep. I’m at the school down the street from here. I live a block away from the store, so the school’s pretty far, but I like it. Your total is $98.26.”
As Miles paid for the food, he smiled at Phoenix, though he turned away the moment they made eye contact.
“I… It’s been interesting, to say the least, what I learned about you today,” Phoenix stated as he started to help bag Miles’s groceries. “I look forward to learning more about you. Not—! Not in a creepy way! Don’t take me the wrong way! I like talking to you, is all.”
“I could say the same for you, no matter how poor your way with words is. Additionally, you didn’t put on your real nametag like you said you would, so I must say I’m rather disappointed.”
Phoenix gave him a fake frown, handing him the receipt. “Whatever. You saved 12.96.”
“How thrilling. Perhaps you’ll meet my family one of these days. I’m sure you’d find them quite appealing.”
Phoenix raised an eyebrow, smiling smugly at Miles as he pulled his “temporary” nametag out of his pocket and exchanged it for the one he was wearing.
“I’m sure I will. You just have to make sure you go through my line next time.”
Miles smiled at him. “I don’t understand why I would go through any other line.”
_____________
The next time Phoenix saw Miles, he wasn’t alone.
It made him a little disappointed, in some sort of weird way, to see Miles smiling and chatting with someone that wasn’t him, even when he knew that that someone was probably just his father.
“Hello.” Phoenix greeted as soon as they made eye contact, noticing that the older man’s hands were on Miles’s shoulders, as an almost surefire sign of their relationship. “Did you find everything you were looking for?”
The older man grinned mischievously at him, looking up at the ceiling and away from Miles.
“We found you, didn’t we?” The older man asked, winking at Phoenix.
The fact that Miles elbowed the man for the comment wasn’t lost on Phoenix.
By the time Miles had regained enough dignity to speak, Phoenix was almost halfway through the order.
“This, as you may have gathered, is my father. His name is Gregory Edgeworth, and I don’t remember what I’ve told you about him thus far.”
“Well, to be perfectly honest, I think that’s it. I think we got kinda sidetracked talking about spirit channelers.”
Miles nodded his head quietly. “Right. Quite right.”
Though he was certain that Miles wasn’t saying his last name, it still made him look up when he said it. Miles didn’t seem to notice, but Gregory did.
“Is that your last name or something? Phoenix Wright?”
Phoenix chuckled, with the faintest hint of a smile. “You got me, sir. Maybe you should be a detective instead of a defense attorney. You’re certainly dressed to be one.”
The moment the words left his mouth, he realized that it was probably something along the lines of insulting a customer, and, especially with a customer he didn’t know, that really was something he didn’t need in his life. He didn’t need any worse experiences with customers, particularly the fathers of really cute semi-regulars. He winced and covered his mouth with the back of his hand, a flush spreading on his cheeks. “I’m so sorry, sir.”
Fortunately, Miles’s family was apparently made of people that were too good to be real, because all the man did was laugh. “You’re right about that, my boy! I do dress like a detective. I think they have a very interesting aesthetic. Also, it goes without saying, I’ve met some very kind detectives in my day. I can’t do my job without them.”
Phoenix smiled at him, his eyebrows creasing with interest. “That’s super cool. Miles, you never told me that your dad was cool.”
Miles crossed his arms, turning away from Phoenix and Gregory both. “I can see I’m not wanted in this conversation.”
Phoenix felt bad for a moment, but Gregory simply smiled and pulled Miles into a hug, despite the fact that they weren’t facing one another. Miles laughed and let himself be hugged, clearly trying to put on an angry facade and failing miserably. Gregory picked him up off the ground before setting him down, turning him around, and hugging him properly.
“Of course I’m cool. I’m the coolest. I’m Gregory Edgeworth, Ace A—hey!” Gregory protested as Miles hugged him from the side and apparently shifted all of his weight on him, throwing off his father’s balance. It was unbelievably cute, the way these two interacted. Phoenix could barely stand it.
“So, question of the day. If you could have any superpower in the world, something few people ever think about, what would it be?”
Both Edgeworths turned to him and, without hesitation, in perfect sync, responded, “spirit medium.”
Phoenix blinked twice, taken aback, though he probably shouldn’t have been so surprised about it.
“Does it count as a superpower if you know people that can do it?”
Miles and Gregory both gained a pensive look, looking almost identical as they thought.
“It’s certainly a supernatural ability.” Miles conceded.
“Does super strength count as a superpower when you have a thing like Olympic runners? Or super strength when you have heavy lifters? It’s not something everything can do, but it is certainly something that people have done before. Is X-Ray vision a power if you have X-Rays that can do it for you?”
Phoenix shrugged, having not really prepared an answer for that. “Uhh… I just work here, dude. I don’t have time to think about stuff like this, I just ask the questions.”
Gregory adjusted his glasses before crossing his arms. “You didn’t ask any of the other customers.”
Phoenix smiled, leaning in a bit conspiratorily as he pressed the total button on his keyboard. “I only ask the customers who seem nice.”
Gregory leaned in as well. “And are you trying to tell me that I seem nice?”
Phoenix looked away, acting coy. “I don’t know, sir, do you? Maybe I was going off prior experience with your companion, and not really you. Maybe I stopped caring. Maybe I made an exception to my rule.”
Gregory laughed at that, turning away from Phoenix to pay for his groceries. “I’ve been told I have a very… approachable air. I suppose that’s a good thing to have, as a defense attorney. I don’t want my clients being afraid to talk to me. Intimidation is not a very good business practice, that much is for certain.”
Phoenix nodded his head. “Miles isn’t learning the family business, then? Because he seems pretty intimidating to me.”
Gregory got a real kick out of that, and Miles flushed, turning his head away. As the receipt came up, the older man seemed to be trying to find a way to answer the question without being rude.
“He’s a very good son. He is learning how to be a defense attorney… what may seem to be, uh, intimidation, is more like… he’s fiercely loyal, to those who know him. He’s very kind. And I love him very much.” He broke off suddenly, checking his phone. His face melted into a smile. “Hey, speaking of love very much, Misty just arrived. We need to hurry and throw these into the fridge. It’s been great getting to meet you, Phoenix—I was hoping you would be here, Miles has told me so much about you—I hope we can see each other soon. Bye!”
Phoenix watched as they left, the breath knocked out of him by everything that had just happened.
It didn’t feel real.
Miles had smiled—a lot—and his father was so different than anything he’d been expecting. They clearly cared about one another quite a bit. It was adorable.
His father had been trying to embarrass him, and it had been working, all he’d had to do was bring Phoenix up.
Did Miles tell his father about him?
Had he brought his father shopping just so that he could introduce them?
Phoenix felt like he wasn’t going to be able to think about anything else for the rest of the night.
He wasn’t wrong.
_____________
Phoenix felt like he’d seen something he wasn’t supposed to see, though that wasn’t necessarily a problem.
How to handle it, though? That was quite the conundrum.
Yesterday, when he’d been getting off of his break, he’d noticed something. Or, rather, he’d noticed someone.
Specifically, he’d noticed Miles Edgeworth, customer extraordinaire, buying some milk and some sponges. It seemed odd, but he didn’t pay any mind to it. Phoenix knew that Miles wasn’t going into his line because he’d been on break, and he was already being checked out by someone, so he wasn’t going to bring it up.
What was odd, though, was the fact that today in his line was none other than Miles Edgeworth (customer extraordinaire).
What was he buying that he hadn’t gotten yesterday? Milk and some soap.
Something didn’t quite add up.
Either their family was desperately out of milk and cleaning supplies, or Miles had gone to the store just to see Phoenix, which was a really nice thing to think about, but it was probably wrong.
Probably.
Phoenix wracked his brain for any other explanations for what was going on. Was Miles making a lot of hot chocolate and stocking up on cleaning supplies? Possibly, but in that case, he probably would have done it all at once.
Had he lost the milk yesterday in some sort of tragic accident and now needed to replace it with new, today milk? Also possible, but in that case, he probably would be buying more sponges today.
Had—oh no, he was checking out now. He’d grabbed some candy and cookies in addition to his few items, and had set them down on Phoenix’s conveyor belt. He was on the express lane today, so there wasn’t going to be much room for conversation, but it still made Phoenix’s heart sing to see Miles.
“Why, hello there, stranger. What do you think you’re doing here?”
Miles’s eyes narrowed. “What could you possibly mean by that? I’m buying groceries.”
Phoenix raised his eyebrows. “I may not be a detective or a defense attorney or anything, but I’m pretty sure you’re lying. I think, if I remember correctly, you were here buying milk and sponges yesterday. Am I wrong?”
Miles took a sharp breath in, putting a hand on his chest as he looked at Phoenix.
“How—how could you possibly know that?”
Phoenix smiled at him. “I know everything about you, Miles Edgeworth.” As Miles paled, Phoenix realized that he probably shouldn’t have said that. It had been a long shift.
“I mean, no, uh, I saw you yesterday going through Callisto’s line. And I mean, she’s nice and all, but how dare you not go in my line?”
This was where he was going to either get confirmation of what could quite possibly be the greatest thing—that Miles had in fact been looking for him. That would be such a shock though, it was such a far stretch, it couldn’t possibly…
“I didn’t see you when I came in here yesterday. Had I known you were working, I would have gone through your line.”
Phoenix took a deep breath in, knowing each breath could be his last. Was this really happening? This wasn’t some sort of crazy runaway fantasy where cool people like Miles were actually looking for him to chat while he’s working?
“If you want my work schedule, you can have it. You don’t have to buy milk every time you want to see if I’m here.”
Miles flushed a deep red, nodding his head. “My father seemed to think that you and I got along rather well, and I… I wanted to see you again, because I think he’s right.”
Phoenix wanted nothing more than to say some cool and witty comment back, but Miles’s receipt and coupons had finished printing. He handed them to Miles along with a pen.
“What’s—”
“Mondays and Wednesdays six to eleven. Thursday five to eleven. Saturdays depend. Sundays eight thirty to three thirty. If you come late at night, I can probably talk for a lot longer than if you come during the big rush, which is, uh, all other times.” Phoenix whispered.
Miles quickly wrote it down, giving Phoenix a hint of a smile as he handed the pen back and nodded his head, groceries in hand.
Phoenix could have sworn he saw Miles do a victory dance once he’d gotten out of the store.
He wished he could do one of his own. He felt like he was glowing, or possibly like he could combust at any second. Either way, he was looking forward to seeing more of this kid.
______________
Phoenix couldn’t have been happier when he saw Miles with a large order at 9:50 PM on a Thursday night. Thursdays were the best, because he got half hour breaks those nights, and got to do go-backs, because the store was pretty empty.
He looked over what groceries Miles had, noticing that he had a few frozen items. He pursed his lips, not yet signing on to the computer to start the order.
“Hey, Miles. Let me let you in on a secret. Uhh… okay. So. After 10 PM, if there are no customers, I can do go-backs, where I just walk around the store and put stuff back on the shelves that customers didn’t want. That would be a great time to talk, but I also don’t want your frozen stuff to get melted. So. If you do want to talk, maybe put the frozen stuff back? Your choice.”
Miles smiled, rolling his eyes. “The things I do for you.”
Those words sent a chill down Phoenix’s spine—what other things had Miles done for him?
Idiot, he went to buy milk two days in a row just to see you.
Right.
When Miles came back, he had nothing short of a radiant smile on his lips, though it seemed he was trying his best to hide it.
“How are you? Did you find everything you needed?”
Miles raised his eyebrows, the grin breaking through again. “Do you know how to start a conversation with anything else?”
Phoenix shook his head with a chuckle. “Honestly, I’m not sure anymore. Sometimes I’ll walk up to my mom, like, ‘hi, how are you doing, did you find everything you needed? I’m glad to hear that. Do you have a rewards card? What’s the phone number?’ It’s getting to be a problem, if I’m gonna be perfectly honest.”
Miles laughed, and Phoenix knew that it was a blessing to be stuck at this grocery store four nights of the week if it meant that he got to hear something like that.
“How interesting. So, what they say about customer service personas is true?”
“What, that we secretly hate everyone we talk to?”
Miles placed a hand on his chest, leaning his body away from Phoenix with a concerned look. “Phoenix, are you trying to tell me that you secretly hate me?”
Phoenix pursed his lips, shrugging. “Sorry, dude. I know it’s hard to hear, but, all customers are demons and nothing’s going to ever change that.”
“Is that so? Please, do elaborate on that. This is something I would love to hear.”
Phoenix’s jaw dropped. “Are you… are you giving me permission to trash on customers?”
Miles nodded his head. “I suppose you have some good stories?”
“ Boy, do I. Give me a minute to think of the best order to do this in.”
“Take all the time you need.”
Phoenix thought carefully, and let the words spill out of him as he scanned, gave Miles his receipt, and gathered go-backs.
“I don’t know where to start. Uhh… well, customers who buy meat but don’t put it in bags even though it’s obviously leaking are disgusting and unsanitary and I don’t have time to wash my hands sometimes, or get in trouble for wanting to get raw meat juice off of my hands, so sue me. The people at self-check are stupid and impatient, and one time there was a lady who literally screamed obscenities at one of the machines. Like? It’s a machine, lady. Calm down. Uh, when I first started working here, someone called the manager on me for short-changing her two cents when I didn’t have enough time to open up a new roll of pennies because we were in a huge rush. The manager , seriously?”
“But that’s just your two cents about it?” Miles suggested with a smile.
“Yeah, exactly. Oh, but back on the self-check people, they always need to hit the credit button before their card payment goes through, and they just sit there staring at it. Many, many times I’ve kept a tally of how many people in a night won’t press the button. I think my top score is five in one minute. There are only five machines, Miles.”
“That is… very impressive.”
“Yeah, it is. People are so stupid! There’s this one sign that, ooh, the sign. The shrimp sign . I hate the shrimp… Hoo! I hate that sign.” Phoenix took a deep breath to collect himself. “There’s… ugh, I hate this sign so much. Okay. So there’s this sign, right? It says 8.99 per pound of shrimp, right? But the ‘per pound’ part is kinda small and people don’t read, so people come up with the two pound, count them, two, two pound bags of shrimp, and get mad when they don’t ring up as 8.99. And then they ask me to do a price check. Me! As if I don’t know the price of the most troublesome item in the store! I have them take a picture of the sign and when they bring it to me I show it to them and they get mad at me for being right. It’s… anyway, your total is 22.74.”
Phoenix carried on with his work, turning his computer off and gathering the go-backs from underneath all the registers as Miles put his groceries into his car. He was rather surprised to see that Miles hadn’t been warded off by the weird stories and instead was standing over by the self-check machines, watching the customers check out as Phoenix got ready to finish his work for the night.
As Phoenix approached him, Miles let out another killer smile. “So, what other things have customers done?”
“You don’t think this is boring or mean?”
“On the contrary, I think your stories are fascinating. I’ve never worked retail, so I never get to know what sort of insane things happen to retail workers. I feel as though I’m getting an education.”
Phoenix nodded his head sagely, guiding Miles around the store as he put the groceries back on the shelf, making sure that he did his job as well as he could while Miles was there beside him. He regaled the other boy with stories of other customers who’d told the manager on him for tiny, stupid things. He relived the nightmarish experience of the man who’d thrown a twelve pack of coke at him after he refused to scan his fake scam of a coupon. He shuddered to recall the various women who would come in with piles of coupons, expecting Phoenix to be willing to scan all of them despite the fact that it was against store policy and the thought that he would probably be fired for it.
All through his ramblings, Miles nodded with interest. Phoenix wouldn’t have been surprised to see him diligently taking notes on a tiny notepad. Phoenix didn’t understand what Miles found so interesting about the stories that would normally only be shared between other workers, and would be frowned upon by any typical customer.
Miles clearly wasn’t a typical customer.
After a certain amount of time, Miles checked his phone and paled.
“I really need to go home. I have school tomorrow.”
“Ha, same.”
“Phoenix?” Miles looked him directly in the eyes, and Phoenix couldn’t help but notice a faint blush dusting his cheeks.
“Y-uh, yes?”
“If you ever want to talk to me about other things than work, if you ever want to talk to me outside of work… would you like my phone number?”
“Dude, you’re super cool. Of course I want your phone number.”
Miles seemed to relax slightly at that, placing his hand out in front of him. Phoenix gently put his phone in Miles’s hands, unlocking it as he put some yeast on the top of the shelf.
“And, uh…” This time, Miles wasn’t looking at him. Phoenix noticed his feet shifting, his arms pulled in close to him, as though he was really nervous.
“I realize this is a really bad place to ask… A very, very bad place… but, would you like to go on a date, perhaps? I completely understand if you don’t, and I understand if you don’t ever want to talk to me again after this, it’s very forward of me, but I would be thrilled if you wanted to go on a date with me.”
“What, you don’t think watching me put up groceries at 10:30 at night is romantic?”
Miles flushed, handing Phoenix back his phone. His contact had been listed with a heart emoji, and Phoenix was absolutely melting. He was certain he was blushing almost as much as Miles was.
“Not… is that a no, then? I should be going.”
Phoenix grabbed him by the arm, effectively stopping him from leaving the aisle. “Dude, if I were any more into you… well, I don’t think that’s possible. I would love to go on a date sometime. I wouldn't be surprised if this had all been some sort of crazy work-related hallucination.”
Miles smiled, nodding his head. “I suppose I’ll have to work out your work schedule, then?”
Phoenix shook his head. “You already know it.”
“I may or may not have memorized it. Goodnight, Phoenix Wright.”
Phoenix woke up the next morning to a text message, from a new contact with a heart emoji next to it.
He smiled so much he felt like his face was going numb.