#i need to ponder Bee not making it let me file that one real quick

[numberonetribble]

I'M CHEWING ON THE FURNITURE!!!!!!!!! 😭😭😭 This is how I find out I laugh like Breakdown!! Thank you so much these are so cool!!!!! 💖💖💖

I went crazy last night and couldn't stop thinking of @numberonetribble 's breakbee fanchild Piston, so I stayed up real late drawing them! (I took a few creative liberties, if that's okay)

When drawing this page, I had the stray thought of,, what if Bee didn't make it through Piston's birth? If that did happen I wonder how things would be with Breakdown having to parent all by himself,, hmmm,,, anyway it's supposed to be father-child bonding regardless of how you take it!

And then!!!! I thought of a semi-angsty minicomic? two-parter, whatever it is, I'm kinda proud of it (Breakdown's back is fuuuuuucked bro, how do you draw that shet) (I lowkey think I'm growing an obsession with that cunticon, he's so charming)

I wonder if Piston favors their sire because he acts more like the fun/reckless parent, while Bee is more protective/kinda sheltery, but that's just a theory...

[snezfics-n-shit]

Whumptober Day 24: Flushed

Fandom: Ace Attorney 

Characters: Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth, Dick Gumshoe

Notes: And now for something completely different. Early in the 7-year gap, Hobohodo!Phoenix accompanies Miles and Gumshoe on an investigation and start a new investigation of their own. The three work together to eliminate the impossible and find the truth in something highly improbable. Phoenix has some really bad luck and gets a pretty big ego hit.

     When Phoenix made his New Year’s resolution to be more involved in Miles’s work after moving in with him, he thought he would only commit to the act of saying he wanted to do it. He did just that last year when he said he would go to the gym every week, but Miles was determined to make him follow through this year. It wasn’t so bad, though, and it was the least he could do in return for all the times Miles had assisted him on a case. 

“You have no idea how much we all miss you at the Criminal Affairs Department, pal!” Detective Gumshoe picked up a box of donuts from the snow dusted picnic table to offer a few to the couple. “Without you around, investigations have been real boring. Mr. Edgeworth can attest to that!”

“You did make the investigation period much more lively.” Miles agreed with a nod before picking out a chocolate donut. “I’m pleased to have you participating in an investigation for the prosecution for a change.”

“That gives you special permissions to our donut station, pal!” Gumshoe gently jiggled the box in front of Phoenix’s face, unsure why he would be so hesitant to pass up specially authorized donuts. “Come on, take one before we start! It won’t bite, I promise.”

“Oh, I don’t think I should. I’m getting over a cold, so it’s probably not a good idea to risk putting my hand in.” Phoenix smiled nervously. He was telling the truth, though. If he had to rank how he felt over the course of the last week, he could easily describe it as one of the worst colds he’d ever experienced. Even now, he was still feeling that ever persistent malaise. 

“You want apple cider flavored, right?” Miles, attentive as ever, took an apple cider donut to hand to his boyfriend. “Now  you won’t have to worry about touching any.”

“Thanks, babe.” Phoenix smiled and took a large bite of his donut. “So, where’s the crime scene again?”

“Up that hill, pal!” Gumshoe pointed to the top of a steep hill marked with police tape. “It’s a pretty tough walk, especially with the wind we’re having right now, but it does a body good.” He grinned. “I bet if I walked up and down there a few times, I’ll be in such great shape, I could dance with Maggey all night long at our wedding reception this June.” 

“As much as we’d love to discuss your upcoming wedding, perhaps we should get this hill climbing done and over with first.” Miles slid his gloves back on before he beckoned to Phoenix and Gumshoe as he led them up the hill.

Gumshoe did not exaggerate when he said the climb would be difficult. Miles occasionally felt like he should check that this was indeed a hill rather than a mountain. The one thing that grounded him in the fact it was a hill was whenever Miles and Gumshoe would need to stand in place, waiting for Phoenix to catch up to them. At least the trip was long enough for the two of them to finish their donuts before investigating.

“Since when did you two get so fast?” Phoenix bent over to massage his knees with gloved hands. “I can’t already be turning into an old man.” He refused to imagine the pain in his joints as an inevitable sign of aging. 

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, love.” Miles took a few more, albeit slower, steps up the hill. “We’re almost at the top.” He turned to look at Phoenix as the tired disbarred attorney looked up. “It’s certainly windy, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s hard to fight against it.” Phoenix tried shielding his face from the wind with his arm. He felt something like his skin was drying out, but only on his face.

“That, too, but I mean your cheeks look awfully flushed.” Miles looked at Gumshoe beside him, puzzled why the wind didn’t have this effect on the detective. “Like the wind slapped you in the face.”

Phoenix made a groaning noise as he finally approached the top, practically on all fours by the time he reached the actual crime scene. He looked up at the detective and prosecutor, surely enough displaying patches of reddish pink on his cheeks.

“Wow, Mr. Edgeworth was right.” Gumshoe took a long look at Phoenix’s face, followed by a quick glance at Miles. “Looks like the wind only got a good hold of you, though, since only Mr. Edgeworth’s nose is a little pink.” 

“Can we sit down for a minute?” Phoenix flopped forwards, lying on his belly on the cold ground with only his head lifted by the support of his hands. “I think I pulled my everything.”

“You certainly exerted yourself this time, haven’t you?” Miles examined Phoenix’s face, this time much closer. “I hope you’re not running a fever again.”

“I don’t think so.” Phoenix shook his head. 

As much as Miles denied the effectiveness of Phoenix’s personal ‘tried and true’ method of checking for a fever, he couldn’t make a thermometer appear out of thin air. He kissed Phoenix’s forehead, letting his lips linger there as he assessed whatever temperature he could feel. 

“Hm.” Miles stood upright once more. “You’re not that warm.”

“Now that you mention it, I don’t think that’s any old flushed face. Looks more like a rash.” Gumshoe observed, sitting on the ground at Phoenix’s request. “Maybe it’s that thing where you break out from getting cold?” Quite a handful of the police officers at the station had that, so he wouldn’t consider it so rare that it would be out of the question for Phoenix.

“Wouldn’t that have started as soon as we went outside, though?” Miles hummed and turned his head to look at Phoenix. “That, and I’ve never seen you have such a reaction to the cold.”

“It would be pretty weird if it just started now.” Phoenix pondered. “Could it be frostbite?” He had never had frostbite before, and his face didn’t feel anything like he thought frostbite would be like, but it was worth a shot in the dark.

“It certainly is odd.” Miles held his chin, staring at the ground in thought. “I’ve seen frostbite before on a few occasions, and your face looks nothing like it.”

"You ate a donut earlier." Gumshoe’s eyes widened in panic. "If you're allergic to apples or anything like that, you made a big mistake, pal! I'll call an ambulance if you need me to!"

"No, I eat apples all the time." Phoenix waved his hands to gesture dismissing the thought. "They're my favorite. Never had a reaction to them in my life."

"Well, that's a relief. I do have an EpiPen on me just in case, though." Gumshoe dug through his pocket to present said EpiPen as proof of his claim. "You can't be too careful!"

"It's admirable you're so prepared, detective." Miles complimented him. "I hope you haven't needed to use it yet, though."

"Well, bees aren't typically out in January, so I think I'm safe for now." Gumshoe laughed heartily, his breath visible in the winter air. 

“If we encountered bees that could withstand the January cold, I think we’d all be in trouble.” Phoenix joined in laughing, occasionally rubbing his cheeks, alternating from left to right. 

“You know who you remind me of, pal?” Gumshoe leaned forward. “Mr. Godot when I visited him in prison to bring him a Christmas present.” Come to think of it, Phoenix really did look similar, minus the whole white hair and fancy visor.

“I believe I know where you’re going with this, Gumshoe.” Miles nodded. “I remember you telling me about his condition shortly after your visit.”

“So what was wrong with Godot?” Phoenix cocked his head. Gumshoe never told him anything about visiting Godot for the holidays, let alone whatever he looked like then. Was delivering presents to convicts a normal thing Gumshoe did, or was it because he respected Mia and wanted to show that by reaching out to her old boyfriend?

Gumshoe bit his lip as he tried to jog his full memory of the event. “He had something called uh… Fifth… Fifth something.”

“Fifth disease.” Miles corrected. “It’s recognizable by a rash much like yours, but it’s much less common in adults. I looked up Mr. Godot’s files when Gumshoe first told me he had it. When he was poisoned, his immune system took extraordinary damage and left him vulnerable to most diseases an adult typically wouldn’t think twice about.”

“Well, I can’t have this ‘fifth disease,’ then.” Phoenix finally shifted his position to sit upright. “I wasn’t poisoned and I think my immune system is pretty good. I’d say it’s pretty unlikely at best.”

“I don’t believe ‘can’t’ is the right word here.” Miles sighed through his nose. “Just because it may be unlikely, does not make it impossible. I believe we’ve already gone over the truly impossible conclusions.” 

“There’s a famous detective who said something like that.” Gumshoe recalled. “If you eliminate the impossible, you can find the truth, no matter how, uh, what’s the word?” He snapped his fingers a few times as he thought of what he wanted to say.

“Improbable.” Miles finished the detective’s paraphrase. He returned his attention to Phoenix. “It’s still possible, though, for you to have caught it somehow.” 

“How come I’ve never heard of this disease before?”

“Probably because you’ve never had it, which would explain why you have it now.” Miles deduced. “However, it’s unfortunate that you have that rash at your age. It’s more common for an adult to not have any symptoms at all.” He watched Phoenix massage his wrists. “Joint pain, on the other hand, would be the exception.” It was expected of Miles to have done this amount of extensive research. In fact, for example, whenever he tried cooking something new, he would dedicate himself to not only learning the recipe, but also the history and cultural impact of the dish. 

“Well, what does that say about me?” Phoenix fought against the deep ache that accompanied his barely successful effort at standing up.

“Nothing, love.” Miles put an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulder. “It simply means you’ve found yourself in some bad luck.”

“Maybe you walked under a ladder or a black cat crossed your path, pal.” Gumshoe shrugged. “Or spilled some salt, or cracked a mirror…” He trailed off on a list of various superstitious hypotheses. 

“Here I thought getting disbarred was the worst luck I could find.” Phoenix frowned as he shoved his hands in his pockets. “This just takes the cake, huh?”

“Are you still up to investigating?” Miles asked, acknowledging that there was more to Phoenix’s poor mood than just feeling unwell. He imagined such circumstances would leave a noticeable dent in Phoenix’s confidence, or dare he say ego? “I’m sure Gumshoe would understand if we went home early.” He reached for his boyfriend’s arm.

“I’m not that sick, Miles.” Phoenix pulled himself away. “I can keep going.”

“I’m not talking about just you feeling sick.” Miles crossed his arms, tapping his right elbow with his left index finger. “You know that as well as I do.” He watched Phoenix’s face turn a shade of red similar to what was already on his cheeks. “No one is going to blame you for not taking kindly to what we just discussed.”

“Yeah, I’d feel pretty embarrassed, too.” Gumshoe tried to cheer Phoenix up, but he backed off when Miles stared daggers at him. “How about I, uh, just take you guys home?”

“If you like, we can take you to a doctor, and it could be something completely different.” Miles suggested, punctuated by a kiss on Phoenix’s cheek. “Then we can return home and see that movie you’ve been meaning to see for the past three years.”

“Alright, on one condition.”

“What would that be, sweetheart?” Miles would stand on his head and recite the entirety of Macbeth if he had to, so long as it meant improving Phoenix’s mood. 

“If it’s what you say it is, please don’t tell anyone.” Phoenix buried his face in his winter coat. He paused before amending his request. “You can tell Trucy, but no one else.”

“My lips are sealed, darling.”