#nickmaya

[neutrallyobsessed]

I Want Maya Back!

[narumayoweek2024]

The survey results are in! Here are the official dates and prompts for NaruMayo week!

Any and all fanworks will be accepted– fanfiction, fanart, fan videos, manips, macaroni and cheese crafts, all of it will be celebrated this week. You can use the prompts as a guide, use one, both, or none at all! There is no need to participate every day, so feel free to also combine several prompts into one work if you would like.

Works can be submitted early or late. Works following any prompt(s) will be reblogged on the earliest day corresponding with one of the prompts. Other works will be reblogged as-received. If you're posting to Archive of our Own, feel free to add your works to the NaruMayo Week 2024 Collection!

NSFW works are allowed, we just ask that you follow the guidelines of the websites you are posting to and tag them appropriately.

Please tag any submissions with #NaruMayoWeek2024 and/or @narumayoweek2024 to ensure they are seen!

NaruMayo Week Twitter

NaruMayo Week 2024 Ao3 Collection

Have fun and see you during NaruMayo Week!

Image text is available as plaintext under the cut.

NaruMayo Week!

September 1st - 7th, 2024

Prompt List

Day 1: First Times / Train Stations Day 2: Kids / Date Night Day 3: Bakers / Kisses Day 4: Soulmates / "Grape Juice" Day 5: Role Swap / Travel Day 6: Alternate Universe / Beach Date Day 7: Free Day

[tcvsfiredemon]

Platonic Narumayo and Romantic Tension

I was originally gonna post this as a twitter thread, but it started getting really long and that toxic sludgepit doesn’t deserve that kind of effort. Get yourself a snack or something, it’s gonna get rambly.

I think people who go out of their way to shut down the possibility that there could be any romantic attraction between Nick and Maya are missing out on a really cool aspect of their platonic relationship.

There’s a lot to be said about the many facets of the Narumayo friendship, from their bonding through shared trauma, to their building a found family with Pearl, to their effortless ability to trade off being the straight man of their comedic duo. But I think a lot of people miss how much of their friendship is informed by the fact that they both kinda want to kiss each other.

First off, Maya is constantly teasing Phoenix, and often in a weirdly flirty way. Just a few examples off the top of my head. She says Max is dreamy with stars on his face and immediately suggests Nick put stars on his face. She acts like a spurned lover when Phoenix is talking to Adrian, specifically in an attempt to get him flustered. She explicitly compares Phoenix rescuing her from being kidnapped to the DeLites’ love story. 

There’s quite a few moments like this throughout the games, and coupled with a lot of Maya’s actions and reactions, I get the sense that we’re supposed to believe that she has a thing for Nick. Maybe that’s just the shipping goggles talking, but it really does feel like the intended subtext. I mean, look at that what she instinctively drew when she was in 

(You’re probably wondering when the platonic part comes in. We’ll get there.)

But even if Maya does have a crush on Phoenix, does he return it? Obviously she’s very important to him, but is that really as a romantic interest? We often see him get flustered or stunned into silence whenever people assume he and Maya are dating(which happens a lot), but I feel like that can easily just be read as him being uncomfortable with people assuming he’s in a relationship with his assistant.

In general, Phoenix’s feelings for Maya are fairly ambiguous and probably not something that he’s thought through too much himself. That is, of course, until the waitress scene. That scene, in my opinion, is the single hardest thing to justify if you’re trying to deny any romantic tension within Narumayo. I’ve seen people say that it’s just Phoenix giving a compliment to his best friend/sister figure, but is that really the tone that’s being conveyed there? 

That initial comment on her voice. The pregnant pause when he sees her. The weird pick-up line that probably just came out of his mouth without any thought. That’s not the actions of a guy innocently complimenting his friend, that’s the reaction of a guy who just realized that he finds his friend hot. I’d argue that the case can’t even proceed the way it does unless Phoenix thinks Maya is attractive, because that’s what gives him the idea to try to get her to seduce information out of Kudo.

So between Maya and Phoenix we have two best friends with a lot of chemistry who are probably into each other, and whose friends definitely think are already togeyhet, but we never actually see them take that step into romance. And you know what? It fucking works!

(See, told you we’d get into the platonic stuff eventually.)

One of my favorite movies of all time is When Harry Met Sally, and while the titular couple does get together in the end, most of the film is about the two of them navigating being best friends while obviously having romantic feelings for each other. It’s a beautiful story of these two people building a wonderful platonic relationship and then very nearly ruining it when they try to turn it romantic. 

That’s the dynamic I see between Phoenix and Maya. They love each other and are probably in love with each other, but they insist on keeping things strictly platonic because to change that could mean to destroy what they’ve spent years building up. It’s an underlying tension that underscores a lot of their actions.

It’s the dynamic that the two of them still have almost a decade later in SoJ, where they find immense comfort just being in each other’s presence, investigating cases like old times. And no matter how much Phoenix gawks at Maya like a sun fish, no matter how many times Maya teases Nick while they’re investigating a wedding-based case, no matter how much they may or may not want to kiss, they’re so happy just to be friends.

(Not that I’d be mad if they did end up kissing…)

Obviously there’s nothing wrong at all with seeing Narumayo as siblings or as purely platonic friends who would never in their wildest dreams be romantically interested in each other, but I do feel like something is lost in that interpretation. 

Like, I’m not the biggest fan of romantic Narumitsu, but I don’t think you can truly appreciate their friendship while ignoring that those guys have a weird pseudo-romantic tension going on. Without it they’re just two dudes who used to be friends and don’t have a whole lot of chemistry but would still for some reason die for each other. Once you acknowledge that “oh, they’re kinda in love, aren’t they” it all makes perfect sense.

I don’t think platonic Narumayo exactly falls apart if you ignore their romantic tension. They still have all that other stuff I talked about, but their relationship loses a lot of richness if it’s reduced to just “besties” or “siblings”. Even the games themselves took a little time to explore the potential romantic tension between Phoenix and Maya, and I think that’s been pretty instrumental in making them one of the coolest male/female friendships this side of When Harry Met Sally.

[the-bar-sinister]

A few days ago an anon shared with me their excitement that Phoenix Wright "canonically" has a damsel in distress fantasy. My take was that that was great stuff, but I wasn't going to take it as canon until I saw the segment that they were talking about.

Today someone mentioned the part they thought that anon was talking about and I looked it up in the transcripts!

Well, I wouldn't say its "canon" per se– but there's definitely some subtext that you can glean from it!

Not only is Phoenix acknowledging that he finds the idea of being rescued personally romantic (and that he might be inclined to fall in love with his rescuer) he's also acknowledging the possibility that it's likely that a kidnapped Maya would fall in love with her rescuer.

And this is great stuff because you know.

Maya gets kidnapped and Phoenix rescues her.

Thus, the subtext here can be read both that Phoenix Wright has a personal rescue fantasy, and as acknowledgement that it's likely Maya would have a crush on Phoenix– a fact which crosses Phoenix's mind!

-

Desirée: Yes, they took me hostage. I was so frightened. They were both carrying these huge knives and... I-I broke down into tears.

Phoenix: (Yeah... I would too, if I were in that situation.)

Maya: Oh! I think I get it! Did Mr. DeLite come running to save you?

Desirée: Yes! Exactly! I remember he looked so handsome in that guard uniform of his! He went right up to those two knife-wielding robbers... and screamed in their faces! "PLEASE, STOP IIIIIIIIIIT!" he screamed. I could see the robbers' faces turn pale...

Phoenix: (That high-pitched shriek of his does have a surprisingly strong effect on people...)

Desirée: Then, crying and swinging his arms like crazy, he attacked the two robbers. All by himself... He came to save me, a total stranger, all by himself... He was so scared that he was crying and shaking, but he still risked his life for me.

Maya: ...Wow. That's a great story...

Desirée: Yes. He may not look it, but in a tough situation, there's no one better... ...That's why I fell in love with him like I did. 

Phoenix: *sniff sniff* Th-That's so romantic... I'd fall in love too, I guess.

Maya: Nick, I hope you'll do the same for me if I ever get taken hostage...

Phoenix: (With Maya, that possibility always seems to loom in the not so distant future. *gulp*)

https://aceattorney.fandom.com/wiki/The_Stolen_Turnabout_-_Transcript_-_Part_3

[paramourxlights]

fell off inktober.. but this is the last thing i drew 💙🎃💜

[playablezelda]

mistook a piece of sailor moon fanart for maya fey because of the color scheme and hair do and now i can’t stop thinking about how narumayo is perfect for a sailor moon au right down to the problematic age gap (btw anime only fans the gap is Not that wild in the manga i dunno why the show went all in on mamo being older by more) and maya having a mini me (pearl) and phoenix repeatedly losing his memory/having weird fuckshit happen to him and having a connection that goes back to earlier in their bloodline/the reincarnation cycle

maya’s love of food?? phoenix being the bitchiest man alive?? pearl being overly invested in her ‘parents’ relationship? literally has it all

[distinguishedpenguincycle]

[narumayo-zine]

Presenting the cover of the zine - an art collab between jamez (@jamezzz_art on twitter), Peng (@greeninkpenguin), saku (@sakudrew, and @sakudrew on twitter) and Summer (@latesummersolstice), with Mod Rose (@dearteeth​) helping to think of the captions! 

And since the full-sized png was too big for tumblr here's a jpg of the full cover instead. It's kind of crunchy though:

[jamesbranwen]

It’s here!!

This is my full piece for the @narumayo-zine​

I’m so excited that it’s out for everyone! Go download it! It’s awesome and free.

Bonus under the cut is the full version of one of my little drawings for the cover <3 !

[wild-mare-of-prosecution]

A Burger for Your Thoughts?

A friend on Discord sent me this, so I thought I'd pass it along...

@kaiba-cave @boo2020

[elephantkingdom]

Hurry up!

Phoenix x maya

[neutrallyobsessed]

her smile and happiness: restored

[narumayoweek2024]

Get ready for NaruMayo Week, 2024!

Hello ace attorneys and ace mediums!

Are you interested in making some NaruMayo fanworks, or even just seeing and sharing some great NaruMayo content? This year's NaruMayo Week is confirmed! We will be hosting NaruMayo Week again this September!

If you are interested in this ship week, please fill out the short survey below! You will be asked to choose your favorite prompts for the week. We can't wait to see what you choose this year!

>Link to the survey here!<

Reblogs are appreciated if you want to help spread the word! 💙💜

[tcvsfiredemon]

Maya: Nick, I'm madly in love with you. Let's get married and have kids.

Phoenix, thinking: N-no way, what's she implying? She couldn't mean...

[the-bar-sinister]

Phoenix Wright relationship timeline headcanons: (to go along with my Apollo Justice list)

dated Dahlia casually/no formal realtionship

crush on Mia that goes nowhere

crush on Edgeworth

started dating Maya casually, without putting a name on the relationship, at her insistence in between JFA and TT

finally got together and started an informal relationship with Edgeworth in the aftermath of Bridge to the Turnabout.

Phoenix sometimes has throuple dates with Edgeworth and Gumshoe, who had a pre-existing relationship. Phoenix doesn't quite have a stand alone relationship with Gumshoe

started dating Kristoph a few months into the 7 year gap

Phoenix is introduced to Justine Courtney through Edgeworth and they have some casual dates.

Several years into the 7 year gap Phoenix and Ema start having an on again, off again thing resulting from her crush on him.

Phoenix and Iris start dating once Iris gets out of jail

After Phoenix gets his badge back and starts taking charge of the WAA Apollo and Phoenix have some awkward on-again, off again flirtations and interactions that don't count as a relationship.

Phoenix and Diego start a relationship based around hateflirting after Diego gets out of jail.

"Somehow Kristoph has returned"

Maya returns to LA permanently, and Phoenix, Miles, and Maya finally make things more official as a throuple.

[queenscene2]

Phoenix: [banging the defense bench out of frustration]

Maya: Stop that, how would you feel if I banged you on the bench?

Phoenix: I- I don’t know the correct answer to that question…