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robby-bobby-tommy · 3 months ago

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Emptying some of my drafts/fanfic ideas for the two Badd enjoyers out there 🫡🫡🫡

Thanks to @kugamoogle I finally have a reason to post this crap lmao (sorry, if you don't want to be tagged)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Badd: (It's already so late. Almost no one is left in the precinct. I guess I should head out home....)

*phone rings*

Badd: (Oh.. Prosecutor Faraday... Why is he calling me at this late of an hour?)

Badd: Good evening, Prosecutor Faraday..... Is any....

Faraday: Tyrell..

Badd: !

Faraday: I need your presence.

Badd: What happened? Where are you? Should i bring the others from the precinct with me? (He never calls me by my name without a reason..)

Faraday: Something very important, Dye Young Hospital. No.

Badd: Are you hurt? I'll get there as fast as I can!

Faraday: No...Thank you.

~~~~~~Dye Young Hospital~~~~~~

Badd: Faraday, is everything okay?

Faraday: *turns around with a baby in his arms* Shhh! You'll wake her up.

Badd:......? This......... Is...?

Faraday: My daughter, of course. Want to hold her?

Badd: !... Byrne, you can't be serious..!

Faraday: Geez, such a big guy afraid of such a small girl? *gives Kay to Badd*

Badd: *very stiffly holds her. Freezes immediately. Afraid to hurt her* ...!

Faraday: *suddenly takes the photo* Ha, you should've seen your face! The detective with the heart of steel is finally flustered! I've stolen this moment from you.

Badd: Byrne!..... You....!! *Kay yawns* ......what is her name?

Faraday: Her name is Kay. Don't be so scared.. Be more relaxed.

Badd: .......Hi Kay...... Here's your dad *shows Faraday*.... I'm your dad's friend.

Faraday: It's your Uncle Badd!

Badd: ..! *very flustered. Suddenly Kay opens her sleepy eyes and takes Badd's lollipop* ...!

Faraday: Oh, Kay! Stealing is bad!

Badd: ......should I take a little thief to the precinct?

Faraday: Should I take your paycheck to my office?

They both laugh.

~~~~~~~~~~~

*Faraday shows his prosecutor's badge*

Kay: I wanna be a detective when I grow up! Like Uncle Badd! To be the hero of justice!

Faraday: ...!

Badd: ......you'll make a great detective....... You have a talent........ For finding things...

Faraday: (I could never hide any candies from her...)

Badd: But it's a very dangerous job..... Some of the bad people..... Will have to make an acquaintance to your kick...

Kay: Or I wanna be a prosecutor like Daddy! The true hero of justice that puts bad people in jail!!

Faraday: (suddenly I feel a tear in my eye...)

Badd: That take money form their subordinates' salary....

Faraday: I think your pay check has been oh too stable these past few months!

Kay: I'll never do something like that!

Badd: ......then I look forward to working with you, Ms Prosecutor Faraday.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Just to clarify, this next part has nothing to do with my other no dl 6 au lmao. Some parts of this au (mainly Badd getting shot) is tied to my other hcs I've posted before.

~~~~~~~~~~~ (no dl 6 au) ~~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie/Ray: Mr. Edgeworth, is it true that Detective Badd has been shot?

Gregory: That's what I heard from the people in the precinct. They sounded serious, so I came to check up on him.

Ray: I'm not sure they'll let us in, since we aren't a family, but worth the try!

(They go in the hospital)

Gregory: (now, we need to find a reception or a nurse...... Hm? What's all that noise?)

???: I need to continue the investigation..... They've stolen the video tape, I need to find it, Byrne..

Ray: Detective Badd!

Gregory: Yes, it's him! But who is he arguing with?

????: What you need is to stop being stubborn and take a break.

Ray: Hm? Is he trying to leave the hospital already?

Gregory: But it's been one day since he got shot! It's dangerous to leave! We need to talk him out of it.. Ahem.. Detective Badd!

Badd: ..! Attorney Edgeworth, Assistant Shields? What are you doing here? And what are these tulips doing in your hands, Edgeworth?

Gregory: These are for you, Detective. My sincerest hopes for your speedy recovery.

Badd: ..! Thank you.

* (Long time no see) *

(The incident)

(The mysterious man)

Gregory: It is a pleasure to meet you once again, Detective. Though, I would've loved to meet you in good health more.

Badd: Same here..... Was IS-7 incident ever solved?

Ray: Sadly, Master was convincted on being an accomplice. He confessed to it.

Badd: What?? But the recording..

Gregory: It was of help, Detective. Yet von Karma got away with only a penalty.

Badd: .... My condolences...

Ray: Do not worry. All this time we were working hard on getting a retrial. A lot has changed since then and I'm an official attorney now! I won't ever rest until they find Mr Master innocent!

Badd: You've already passed the bar exam....? I believe the truth won't escape you, Attorney Shields.

Ray: He he heh. I'm so happy! Detective Badd actually praised me!

????: the IS-7 incident.... That's where I heard about them...

* (The incident) *

(The mysterious man)

Gregory: May I ask you about what happened to you?

????: Mr Attorney, he's been through a lot recently. Don't make him recall such terrible memories so soon!

Gregory: (True... It's been tactless from me...) I apologize.

Badd: It's okay, Byrne... A few days ago, I was walking home after the day at the precinct.. On my walk I was ambushed by three men, each carrying the gun. I tried to escape and called the first person in my phone. Yet they got me. They cornered me and then shot two times in the abdomen. After that I don't remember anything, but a green flame.

Gregory: (he says he's fine, but I can see he's shaken by the whole ordeal...)

Ray: Green flame?

Badd: Then I woke up at this hospital.. They stopped the blood, so I headed straight to the courthouse.

Ray: Courthouse?? Without operation?

Badd: Hmph, it's no big deal. That sort of thing happens all the time. I even had full intentions of continuing the investigation.

Ray: But! But that would've been too much!

Gregory: (You don't have to act all tough in front of us, you know?)

Badd: But right after the trial I was dragged here by THAT prosecutor.

????: It was the only logical course of action given the bullets were still lodged in you AND you started bleeding out right in the hallway.

Gregory: And now? Did you have your operation??!

Badd: ... Yes... I'm all good now.

????: Big talk from someone who woke up only a few hours ago!

Gregory: (Just who is this man? It takes a lot of courage to speak to Badd that way....)

* (The mysterious man) *

Gregory: Good morning, mister. I'm Attorney Gregory Edgeworth. This is Attorney Raymond Shields.

Ray: How do you do?

Gregory: And you are...?

Faraday: Prosecutor Byrne Faraday. Nice to meet you, Mr Edgeworth, Mr Shields.

Badd: This man is a prosecutor in charge of the case we're solving right now, and my close friend.

Ray: Enchanté, as they say... Have you heard of us?

Gregory: (Raymond seems very cold all of a sudden.. Probably, he thinks Prosecutor Faraday is like von Karma. Ever since that incident he dislikes prosecutors a lot..)

Faraday: Yes. Tyrell talked a lot about you and the IS-7 incident back in the day. My condolences. I had no idea Prosecutor von Karma would stoop so low to get his guilty verdict.

Ray: Why would it surprise you, Prosecutor? Are you surprised he got caught doing what you all do?

Faraday: ...! I have no idea what are you suggesting!

Gregory: I'm sorry, Prosecutor Faraday. Please forgive his rudeness. That incident left a big impression on him..

Faraday: ..... It's nothing, I suppose. But I would like Mr Shields to stop judging book by it's cover. Not all prosecutors are like this.

Faraday: Back to the matter at hand. Badd, I am not letting you investigate until you have rested enough.

Badd: ...! I've told you countless times, Faraday...

Faraday: If you try to leave this hospital, I'll take you off the case!

Gregory: (..! He seems desperate.. He must've grown weary of this pointless argument.. But despite the harshness of Prosecutor Faraday's words, it seems he really cares..)

Badd: That never stopped me before.!

Faraday: A foot out of this building, and you won't be able to afford a taxi to the courthouse!

~~~~~~~~~~~

#ace attorney #aa #ace attorney investigations #aai #aai spoilers #aai2 #aai2 spoilers #tyrell badd #byrne faraday #kay faraday #gregory edgeworth #eddie fender #raymond shields #i used both these names cuz i wasn't sure which to use. but then just started to ise ray cuz it's shorter lmao #these are so unpolished and cringe but oh well. I don't have time to write better stuff #just to clarify i tried to imitate in game dialogue cuz i wanted to maybe turn them into fake game screenshots similarly to #mariam (the amazing dgs artist) does. but i don't have skills nor motivation to do it #ok i think i need to stop

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aquilamage · 3 years ago

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AA Prosecutor Week Day 6 - Mistake

It’s been a past 24 hours and I happened to leave editing etc for this to the last minute, so you all get the edition here but are gonna have to wait for the fic site versions (I’ll put the links in a reblog)

Faraday brain yet again, this time the result of me thinking about what the combination of Byrne having yelled at Gumshoe for being late on his first day and the fact that both Kay and Badd got very close to Gumshoe just by the end of Reminiscence might turn into in an au where Byrne didn’t die and had to deal with this conflict of opinion.

content warnings for vague mentions of recovering from injury, some cussing, and aai2 spoilers for a character (if you want to skip that, it’s the part right after a scene break, starting with “Tyrell had been underestimating” and ok to start at the paragraph beginning “He’d had all of ten minutes”)

“You’re not authorized to be back yet,” Badd said without looking up.

“Not yet,” Byrne agreed, leaning on the corner of the desk and over his shoulder, “but the doctor says I’m cleared to start work on Monday as long as I don’t do anything too strenuous.”

“I hope they only mean physically, or else you’ll still be out for a while.” He didn’t actually sigh, but that sentiment was readily apparent in his voice. “Considering how much of a fuss they’ve been kicking up about the incident, they’re only going to be giving you even more hell once they’re allowed to bother you again.”

He grimaced. He already knew that – being the detective in charge of both the court case and investigating Yew’s attempted double murder, Tyrell had shouldered the brunt of the questioning from both of their supervisors (not to mention actually investigating, watching Kay while Byrne was in the hospital (and even after, simply adding on helping Byrne out around the house and driving (despite his insisting that he could just take a taxi, it wasn’t a big deal)), and worrying over the Faradays and the dire implications of Yew’s betrayal on their future). Byrne was sure if it had been any detective other than Badd, he would’ve been harassed as soon as he’d regained consciousness.

A light nudge stirred him out of his thoughts. “What are you doing here?” Badd frowned.

“I came to pick up my daughter,” he said in a playfully accusatory tone.

Badd ignored the way he drifted further into his personal space, going through forms. “I’m done in...an hour, and I would have dropped her home then.” (It would hardly have been “dropping” her off, since Badd was still too paranoid to leave them alone for so long. Byrne had been tempted more than once now to tell him that if he didn’t start going back to his own apartment for more than an hour at a time, he might as well move in, considering how long it had been since the incident.)

“Yes, but considering that lately you’ve been watching her more than I have, I figured you were due for a break.” Pausing for a second, he looked around unnecessarily. “Although it seems you’ve already taken care of it.” More casually, he added, “who has her this time?”

“Marshall.” Badd stood, leaning away from Byrne rather than jostling into him like he normally would. Byrne never would have thought he’d miss that so much. As long as he didn’t keep treating him so delicately as he recovered, he could live with it.

But when they got to Detective Marshall’s desk, she was nowhere to be seen or heard.

“She finished all her work up,” he explained, “and I’m swamped, so she was getting bored, so I handed her off to-” He perked up, looking at a spot behind the two of them. “Hey, Angel. Just in time to drop off the kid.”

Turning around, he quickly noticed that once again the only person in sight was the other detective, and she was frowning heavily.

“Would be, if I had her. I’m just here to get some documents, since-”

“Detective Starr!” A shrill voice cut her off. “You can socialize with your colleagues later. We have an important case to-” As Payne walked through the doorway, he immediately flinched. “Ah, Detective Badd.” His tone had quieted, if not really softening, as he tapped his hand to his forehead. “A new case has popped up, and I figured one of your detectives would be up to the task.”

Badd nodded impassively.

Payne stood there for another moment, somehow expecting more of a response. When he finally realized that he wasn’t getting one, he turned, noticing Byrne for the first time. “Faraday. Weren’t you…?” he waved his hand vaguely.

“Yes, I was,” he said flatly. He supposed the other could have been more tactless, but not by much. “I’m just here for my daughter today.”

At that, the other prosecutor’s expression soured (more). “Well, now that you have more time on your hands, maybe you can teach her some better manners. She very rudely interrupted me to comment on my voice, and then had the audacity to say that she ‘has volume control issues too,’ whatever that means,” he scoffed.

“Did she now.” It took a great deal of effort not to laugh. “I’ll be sure to discuss that with her later.” And he meant it, even if not in the way Payne was thinking. Apparently she’d called von Karma scary to his face (he both wished he could’ve been present to see his reaction and knew it was for the better he wasn’t, because that was a case where he wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from laughing), and while his coworkers certainly deserved the (frankly, ridiculously light) teasing, he’d prefer Kay not attract any more of their attention than absolutely necessary. Then he looked over to Starr. “Goodman, then? Or Skye?”

She shook her head, and he was about to give a ‘did you guys lose my kid again’ quip when Payne butted in again. “She’s with that new detective, whatshisname that you were training.”

“Gumshoe,” she said, taking advantage of Payne facing away from her to roll her eyes. “Should still be in 217.”

Something about the name felt familiar, but he couldn’t place it. Giving her a quick thanks, Byrne headed down the hall to the other office, Badd following.

This time, Kay was actually in there. Perched on a desk with her legs dangling off the edge, she stared down at the spread of Pokemon cards in her hand. Opposite her in one of the chairs sat a rather scruffy man in a beige trenchcoat, also holding Pokemon cards.

Ah, yes, that was where he knew the name from. Byrne crossed his arms, frowning as he recalled the detective and his egregious lateness to their meeting.

The movement must have finally caught his attention, because Gumshoe looked up, immediately freezing, eyes wide. He moved to salute, cards flying everywhere. A fraction of a second after he began that motion, he also scrambled to stand, tripping over the wheel of the chair. “S-Sir! Mr. Badd, M-Mr. Faraday!” He glanced frantically between them. “Kay is all safe and accounted for, so I’ll, uh...get back to work?” As the sentence trailed up into a question, he stared firmly towards Badd. When he nodded, Gumshoe left at a speed just slow enough not to be called running.

Byrne looked over from the closing door to Badd, who was shaking his head. He shot him a ‘we’ll discuss this later’ look before turning to meet his daughter.

She’d been watching with the ghost of a frown, but it quickly turning into a beaming smile. “Hi, Daddy!” Hopping down, she rushed over to hug him, gently (the first couple times, especially their reunion in the hospital, she’d gone a little too enthusiastic, but now was remembering herself pretty well).

“Hey kiddo.” He ruffled her hair, reminding himself not to lean over. Tension he hadn’t even realized he was holding released, and he hummed softly. “How was school?”

“The fire alarm went off during lunch, so I barely had any time to talk to Seb today.” She made a face. “But other than that it was okay, I guess. Are you doing ok?”

The persistent ache was mostly ignorable, unless he moved wrong. The main problem was the itch of healing. “About the same as this morning. The doctor says I’ll be almost done healing in a week, though, so then I should be able to start doing more again.”

She pressed her face against his side. “Does that mean you won’t be home a lot again?”

He sighed. “Yes, I’m going back to work. But,” he nudged her to look up at him, “I promised to stop working evenings or nights, remember?”

“Yeah.” She grinned. “And Uncle Badd promised to yell at you if you try.”

A laugh escaped him. He couldn’t even bring himself to pretend to be mad as he looked to Badd. He’d promised the same back – and besides, it wasn’t as though they were capable of acting as the Yatagarasu anymore anyway.

That didn’t stop Badd from giving him a meaningful look as a reminder. “Do you need...a ride home?”

He smiled, half exasperated, half fond. “No, I have a taxi set up already.” When Badd nodded, he took Kay’s hand and headed out.

---

As they were getting inside the house, Kay looked up at him, then away. After a moment, she said, “Hey Daddy, why were you acting so weird around Gummy earlier?”

He paused halfway through turning the key in the lock. “...Gummy?”

“Yeah. Detective Gumshoe.” She was giving the same concerned frown as when she’d watched the detective leave.

The nickname gave him a tug of unease, but then again Kay had always been extraordinarily quick to get along with people, so he let that point go for now. “It caught me by surprise. I’ve only met him briefly, so seeing you alone with him…” Reaching over, he put a hand on her shoulder.

“Yeah,” she said, and nudged him to open the door. “But if he wasn’t ok, I would have gone back with Ms. Angel and found one of the other detectives.” She was quiet as she took off her sneakers. When she stood up, she put her hands on her hips. “Badd’s been teaching him for a while, and he said we can trust him. And he’s been friends with Ms. Angel for like, forever.” In a smaller voice she added, “And he’s really nice.”

Byrne huffed. To cover it up, he shook his head. “He’d better be. Now, did you actually finish all of your homework?”

“Yes,” she said, but after he kept watching her with gentle skepticism, she crumbled. “Can I have a snack first?”

“Badd will be here in less than two hours, and we’re having dinner then.”

“But I’m hungry now.”

He sighed. “Get started on your work, and I’ll bring you something small.”

“Yes!” She tore off.

Once she was out of sight, he let himself slump, running a hand through his hair. He still wasn’t happy with the situation, but the frustration that had been simmering in him was mostly abated, and the remainder wasn’t anything for her to be bothered about.

---

He’d just put Kay to bed (eventually she’d go back to tapering into being too old for it, but for now it seemed they were both still a little too shaken), and he came down the stairs to the living room, running into Badd.

Silently, he gestured for them to sit on the couch. As they did, he looked away, gathering his thoughts. “I’m sorry about earlier,” he said a moment later.

Before he could go further, Byrne lightly placed a hand on his shoulder. “Kay told me a bit. That he was one of the new detectives you’ve been training.” From what Badd had been mentioning, it had started shortly after his getting stabbed, which was plenty long enough a time frame to evaluate someone. “That you’ve decided he can be trusted.”

“And you don’t believe me.”

He sat forward abruptly. Grabbed at his chest when it ached like the world’s worst bruise. After a couple seconds, he steadied himself enough to shrug off Badd’s arm and look directly at him. “I didn’t-” He stopped, realizing that even if that wasn’t how he’d been thinking about it, that was what his remark had meant. “...It’s just hard to reconcile that with-”

“With the piss-poor first impression he gave you?”

That dragged a dry laugh out of him. “Yes. I can tell he’s hardly about to choose to become one of Debeste’s cronies or whatever, but carelessness will fuck us over just as badly.”

Badd was silent for a while. Then, “I can’t exactly say he’s the most competent guy. You’re right, and I don’t plan on giving him anything too big. But his heart’s in the right place, and he cares enough that I think he’s worth the hassle.”

“If you say so,” Byrne murmured, leaning away. “I’m still upset with you.”

“About?” Badd said flatly.

“I understand why you decided to let him watch Kay. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t tell me about it. You knew I would want to know as soon as it started happening, and you sure as hell knew I would find out eventually.”

He’d stiffened as soon as Byrne’s voice took an edge. When he finished, he closed his eyes, sighing heavily. “I don’t have a good answer. When it first happened, I- I knew you weren’t going to be happy about it, and you were still doing pretty rough in your recovery. ...I didn’t want to give you more stress.”

With an unsteady inhale, he tried to stifle the anger that flickered up. It felt like he was getting more energy in the moment, but he knew it would drain him after. He was exhausted enough already. “We’ve been over this, Tyrell. I’m not made of glass.”

“...I know.” He looked just as pained as Byrne felt. “I’m sorry.”

And that was just the thing, wasn’t it. They both knew the conversation that could follow, since they’d had many variants of it over the past few weeks, so what was the point in keeping on when both had said the parts that mattered? It didn’t extinguish his being upset, though, and he muttered as much as he laid out more comfortably on the couch.

Badd nodded in understanding, and switched on the tv.

---

Tyrell had been underestimating his coworkers’ response, unfortunately. Right as Byrne was unlocking his office, he was notified that he was needed in the Chief Prosecutor’s office. At first it seemed to just be an exchange of paperwork, but when he took the forms, Debeste didn’t let go.

“Y’know, it really is a shame, what happened. After all, you spent what, three years, trying to find the Yatagarasu? And she was under your nose this whole time.” He made a sympathetic tut, but did nothing to hide the grin on his face. “It’s good to see you back. After letting her trick you and get away like that, a different prosecutor would have resigned. But you’re nothing if not stubborn, Faraday, I’ll give you that.”

“Thank you, sir.” They both knew the threat behind the words, but one of them had to be the bigger person. Besides, out of all the people’s buttons he could push, the Chief was the only one where it felt like any one could be a self-destruct switch in disguise. “Was there anything else?”

“No,” he said, dropping the hint of fake sweetness to something merely bored.

But as Byrne strode back across the room, it came back full force. “Oh, of course, I almost forgot. How is that little girl of yours? I heard she was there for part of the...incident, and I know those things can be quite upsetting.”

Ice in his stomach, Byrne willed himself not to react, grateful he wasn’t facing him. “She’s fine.”

“Good. Good.”

He’d had all of ten minutes to himself after that before he’d been drawn into a seemingly endless parade of meetings. Questioning him on the events of that day despite him covering it over and over and then some with the actual investigation team. Discussions of the new state of the Yatagarasu case, which while practical in name, mainly amounted to a contest over who could heap the most implications of failure on him, sprinkled with more expressions of fake concern. It got to the point that when on day two von Karma stopped in the hallway to call him an imbecile and a fool for several minutes straight, Byrne actually walked away feeling better.

By Thursday the only thing that kept him from screaming was the news that he’d finally been assigned a case (and with Badd, thank everything). Normally he left Badd alone on the investigation part unless he was specifically asked for, but since the alternative was more time in the Prosecutor’s building (even if he could close himself in his office under the premise of working), he wasted no time in showing up.

He found Badd on the large back patio of the event venue. “Afternoon, detective.” Sticking his hands in his pockets, he stretched, inhaling deeply. “Lovely place, isn’t it?”

Badd watched him for a moment, impassive. “It’s a murder scene...Faraday.”

“Oh come on, it’s just the two of use, right?”

“Yeah,” he said, voice turning up just at the end.

“Exactly. Besides, I’ve probably said worse with company.” He definitely had, he thought, turning around. “I know I’ve said this so many times already, but I’m sick to death of the office already. It’s going to be nice to finally do some real work, with someone whose company I can stand.”

“Yeah, about...that. I have-”

“Mr. Badd! I got all the stuff you asked-” Detective Gumshoe barreled through the door, skidding to a half barely an inch from slamming into Byrne. “Oh, geez, sorry about that pal, I- Aah! Mr. Faraday, sir!” He snapped to attention, pressing his face into an attempt at seriousness.

“Yes, well.” Taking a breath to steady his heartbeat, he stepped back, hands going back in his pockets. “Next time, be more careful about watching where you’re going.”

“Yes, sir!”

It took a considerable amount of effort not to sigh. He turned to Badd with a look of ‘what the hell?’

“Like I was about to...explain,” he said, a hint of strain to his voice, “Detective Gumshoe is going to be working alongside me on...this case, as part of his training.” Directing his attention to Gumshoe, he added, “It depends on the prosecutor...how much they’ll show up at the investigation, to supervise or direct things. You have to be able to work independently...being in charge of everything, and under orders.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Gumshoe nod attentively, posture otherwise still rigid.

“So, let’s see...what you got.”

He hesitated for a second, wavering between them as for who to give it to until Badd held out a hand.

Byrne stepped over to Badd’s other side to watch as they reviewed the documents. There was a map of the venue grounds, a list of all the guests and employees who had been present, some abbreviated statements, and the autopsy. The wounds were indeed consistent with blunt-force trauma you’d expect from a serving platter, Gumshoe explained, but there’d been something off with his blood, so they were waiting on those tests to see if there was anything suspicious in that.

As he finished his report, he glanced over to Byrne. “Uh, if I may, sir, it’s good to have you back. I know everyone was really worried for a while, so I’m glad to see you’re healthy and healed!”

Yeah, of course you are, he thought, digging his nails into his palms. “Thank you,” he said, curtly. Then, “I’m going to do a walk-through,” and he strode off.

It was a large building, which gave him plenty of time to steady himself as he walked around. Conveniently, it also allowed for the forensics team to arrive for a sweep of a room they hadn’t thought relevant previously. They served as a good buffer as he returned to actually consider the case.

He wouldn’t say he spent the afternoon avoiding Gumshoe, but he also didn’t linger near him unless it was necessary. After a while, he noticed that he tended to follow Badd around. That made his not-avoidance simpler, at the cost of not being able to talk to Badd.

For the most part, at least. Later on, he noticed Badd instructing the other detective off to check on something, and made his way over.

“...and then make sure you get...the seating chart for the reception.” Badd held himself at ease as he talked, tone a firmer version of how he was with the likes of Marshall or Starr.

Gumshoe nodded with earnest enthusiasm. “You got it, pops!”

Once he’d turned and left, Byrne sidled up next to Badd, scrunching his eyebrows in a ‘what was that about?’ look.

He shrugged, the picture of tired indifference. Or he would be, if the almost-smile in his eyes didn’t betray him.

He chose not to comment on it. Instead, he dove into the particulars of the case. The suspect pool was low, but there’d been so much interpersonal drama within the wedding party and tension between them and the staff that untangling everything was a chore. With Badd, though, most anything could be tolerable, and Byrne only realized how badly he’d lost track of time when he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, Gumshoe hanging back in the doorway. He stopped halfway through a sentence. “Something the matter, detective?” he called.

Flinching, he swung to face them. “No, sir! Sorry, sir, I just didn’t want to interrupt, so I tried to be somewhere I could see you but not look like I was trying to eavesdrop or anything. Because I wasn’t!”

To keep himself from a knee-jerk reaction, Byrne took a long inhale. “I see.” Then he glanced at Badd with a look of ‘you deal with it’ and, as he stepped forward, swept off to an adjacent room to check on something.

That wasn’t too long before they were due to be done for the day, so after a couple minutes he made his way back over.

Badd was the only one there, going over his papers at one of the tables.

He walked to him, and leaned over his shoulder. Considering their height difference, it wasn’t something Byrne normally got to do.

Other than shuffling things around so he could see as well, he didn’t react. “Wasn’t much else...to do, so I sent him home.”

“Mm.” That was good, considering how tired he was, he thought, resting a bit more of his weight against Badd. All he had to do now was figure out what and how he was going to argue in court, and everything else was tomorrow’s problem.

---

When he arrived at the courthouse the next morning, both detectives were already in the lobby. He paused in the doorway as the low murmur of Badd’s voice became comprehensible, realizing he was giving the other detective a pep talk. Ducking back into the hallway, he rested against the wall.

When Kay had heard about Gumshoe working the case with them, she’d asked to come along. They’d both said no. She’d missed enough school already for this early in the year, and she didn’t have to be there. Besides, even if there was no reason to think that anything would happen, with it being Byrne’s first trial, he and Badd were a little jumpy.

He knew he was probably being petty, but he couldn’t help the twinge of annoyance over how close Kay and Tyrell were with the detective, considering...how he was.

The background of Badd’s voice had disappeared, so he walked back around.

Badd looked his way as soon as he entered – he’d probably noticed him the first time – and nodded. Then for Gumshoe’s benefit since his back was turned, he said, “Morning, Faraday.”

“Badd.” As the other turned, “Detective Gumshoe.”

“Uh, good morning, sir!” He lifted his arm as if to salute, but stopped himself, simply sitting up properly. “Everything’s ready for the trial.”

“Mm.” Byrne walked over to the couch Badd was on, leaning with his hands on its back. “And you have all the evidence files?” Badd’s insistence that Gumshoe be the one responsible for them felt like when Kay was little and wanted to help him rewiring the kitchen, so he’d given her a pile of screws and nails to sort, but he let it go. Ultimately it was Badd’s decision and responsibility.

“Uh. Yeah!”

It was all he could do to keep his expression flat as the detective started emptying his coat pockets, narrating what he was taking out as he went. He must have missed whatever it was that endeared this man to the others, but he supposed he would try to be patient with him at least, for their sakes.

---

“...and he confused the head chef with the bride’s mother!” Byrne waved his arms as he paced the living room, as if the whirlwind of motion would be enough to put a dent in his furious energy. “It was an embarrassment to the capabilities of everyone on our side, and frankly insulting if taken as a reflection on my teaching. I’d think he was doing it on purpose – for whatever reason – if he wasn’t so blatantly sincere about all of it!”

“...Are you done?” Badd had been watching him rant from the couch, and he asked calmly, patiently, but with just the edge of tiredness in his voice.

While he didn’t have anything else to say, he didn’t feel anywhere near done. Letting out an incoherent noise, he threw his arms down and continued pacing.

“Faraday.”

He was going to have to endure another day of this nonsense tomorrow, and if things kept going like they had been, it would definitely end up a three-day trial. Was this on purpose? Another shot at trying to get rid of him from the office?

“Byrne.”

He flinched away from Badd’s touch, hissing.

Badd let him go, but didn’t back away any. “Sit down, Byrne,” he sighed. “Please.”

He glared him down for a while, but Badd knew how most anything he could say would set him off at this point, so he just stared back. Finally, Byrne crumbled. Huffing, he dropped onto the couch with more force than necessary, and, still frowning heavily, curled his legs across Badd’s lap when he sat next to him. “I’m not wrong.”

“You’re not wrong to be frustrated,” he said sternly as he pulled the blanket off the back of the couch and draped it over them. “Gumshoe’s heart’s in the right place, but he’s not always the brightest.”

Since it was just the two of them, he rolled his eyes.

“He’d be competent enough under the right circumstances; it’s a matter of figuring out how that works. I just haven’t quite gotten there.”

“Hm.” His emotions still roiled within him, but the combination of warmth, the weight on him, and the way Badd was slowly rubbing circles on his shoulder was gradually calming them.

After a few minutes, Badd took a slow, deep breath. “And...I don’t expect you to be friends, but you could stand to be less hard on the guy.”

Annoyance spiked in him for a second, resting back to just slightly higher than before. “I wasn’t. You’ve seen what I’m like when I’m giving someone a hard time.” And then, because he was apparently still more worked up than he’d thought, “Why do you care all of the sudden? You didn’t say anything after the first time we met him, and then I was actually upset.” He still would’ve argued with Badd over it, but at least it would’ve made sense. This time, he’d been so careful not to allow a hint of anger to lash out. “How did he get you and Kay so invested in him?”

Byrne had expected an even-tone explanation on how the other detective had slowly grown on him during the training process, maybe even a nice story about him getting along unexpectedly well with Kay. What he hadn’t expected was for Badd to freeze for a moment, something like guilt flashing through his eyes.

“What?”

“You’re not...going to like it.”

Of course not. He crossed his arms and waited.

Badd looked at him, soft, wary. “Let me finish before you say anything.” When Byrne nodded minutely, he continued. “Gumshoe was there when- the day Yew attacked you. We thought he did it, for a while, after we figured out that you and Rell attacking each other was staged. But that was only because he was lying about what he’d been doing.” Fondness crept into his tone. “He was talking to Kay, and didn’t want her to get in trouble.” He shot Byrne a warning look as he’d started to open his mouth. “It wasn’t anything serious. I already talked to her about it.”

He could live with that. Even though Tyrell was generally more lenient with Kay, he never really contradicted Byrne, except in a couple very rare instances, and all of those were with genuine reason. As for the overall situation...he could see how that would win Badd over. Even he had to grudgingly admit it improved his opinion. Still not happy, but if anything that was on him for letting Kay wander the courthouse alone. Badd had made it sound much worse.

“...And then when I got shot, Gumshoe was the one watching her until they got done fixing me up.”

“You what.”

“Byrne,” he said warningly

“No! What were you think-”

He put his hand over Byrne’s mouth. “Shut up and let me finish.”

Out of old sibling instinct, he licked his palm. When he didn’t react, he simply glowered at him.

Badd watched him for a moment, still. Then he growled, “I was thinking, that I had just gotten shot, and you were dying, as far as I knew. I was scared-” his voice almost broke on the last word “and I didn’t have the luxury of choice.” Slowly, he moved his hand away from Byrne’s face, letting it drop onto his leg. “Gumshoe at least had shown a willingness to protect her already.”

The pressure that had been built so high in him sunk, leaving him dizzy and empty. The only part of him that felt real and not lost, floaty, was the spot where Badd was touching him. Trembling, he placed his hand over his. “I’m sorry.” There wasn’t anything else to say about this that they hadn’t already talked over in the more immediate aftermath, so he simply left space for the emotions, both of them sitting together silently.

After a while, Byrne squeezed his hand, catching his eye. “Are you alright?”

He nodded.

“Ok. I still- I get why that all happened. I don’t like it, but I guess that’s my problem. But what did you mean when you said I was being too hard on him? I thought I was doing a perfectly good job of keeping my emotions in check.”

“Yeah, and you went around the other side with it, to the point where you’re acting like any of the other prosecutors in the office.”

The comparison made him flinch. “What do you…?”

Badd frowned at him wearily. “I mean the part where you’re nothing but sharp and cold at him, like you resent him for existing but don’t care enough to do anything about it. He’s terrified of you, Byrne.” At his surprise, he shook his head. “Thought you would have noticed how jumpy he was at least. I was...a little worried myself. I’ve never seen you get like that.” His voice softened, and he looked down for a moment before resuming. “But he’s...he doesn’t know how to deal with it and it’s messing with his head. This morning he told me he showed up an hour before we were supposed to start to make sure he got everything right.”

“Oh,” was all he could breathe out, mind still scrambling to process.

Nodding, he shifted to let Byrne lean against him, throwing his arm over the back of the couch behind him. He didn’t say anything else. He’d made his point; the rest was up to Byrne.

He took a few deep breaths, and started to think.

---

“Good morning, detective.”

Gumshoe, predictably, startled a bit. Byrne hadn’t intended to sneak up on him, but he’d been so caught up in though that it was impossible not to. “Good morning, sir!”

Now that he was looking, it was impossible to miss the nerves brightening his voice, locking his body at attention. He kept the sigh internal. “You can relax, detective.”

“Yes, sir!” He didn’t.

“I wanted to talk to you about what happened yesterday,” he said, deciding not to push it.

At that, he crumpled. “Yeah...I’m real sorry about that, sir.” Rubbing the back of his neck, he mumbled,” I really thought I’d gotten everything memorized, too.”

“Gumshoe,” he said, trying to put as much warmth in his voice as he could while still sounding genuine, “will you sit, please?”

He hesitated, but after Byrne sat in a chair, he sat right in the middle of the couch, hands wringing in his lap.

Now for the hard part. He resisted the urge to cross his arms, keeping his body language as open as possible. “I’m going to be perfectly honest with you, detective. I’ve had...some doubts about your capabilities, since our first encounter. And I was disappointed in your performance yesterday. However. That doesn’t excuse my behavior towards you. I was unprofessional and rude, and for that I apologize.”

Gumshoe had been watching him with increasing confusion and surprise and now stared, mouth open eyes barely squinted. A few seconds later, he blinked and shook his head. “Oh, that’s not- uh, I mean, I...uh.” He looked down at where one hand was picking at a loose thread. “Thank you?”

“Yes, well…” He did cross his arms now, the urge to fidget prickling at him. Nothing particularly intelligent came to mind to add, so he gave up. “I’m going to see if Detective Badd has arrived.”

He was already here, Byrne knew. They’d arrived at the same time, and Badd had wordlessly taken up a spot near the lobby door, nodding to him as he pushed it open. But getting up to ‘check’ let him exit the situation, especially since otherwise Badd wouldn’t be coming in until the time they absolutely needed to be getting ready for the trial. He closed the door gently behind him, and practically fell against the wall next to Badd with a long haggard sigh.

“That...terrible?”

“I don’t know,” he groaned, rubbing his temples. “I still don’t know how to deal with him.”

“But you said...your piece?”

“Mm.” Then, he reached subtly over towards the pocket he knew Badd kept extra lollipops in.

Without looking, he slapped his hand away. “I can work...with that.” As he walked to the door, he pressed a lollipop into Byrne’s hand. Root beer.

---

Gumshoe didn’t suddenly transform into a stellar detective, but he was certainly better. Byrne wasn’t sure if it was his apology making him less nervous or the fact that he and Badd had given him a crash reminder course on how to talk on the stand, but he wasn’t going to be choosy.

It had cleared his head, too, since an hour into the trial he realized there was no way the wedding planner, the current accused, could have done it. Fortunately, the defense attorney was competent enough that they reached the (correct) verdict by early afternoon.

As they got out, Gumshoe had started apologizing, seemingly because he thought he’d lost them the case.

“No, detective. In this case, the defense was correct.” And then he’d ended up having to explain the last third of the day’s trial. “You were there.”

“Yeah.” He hung his head. “But I was so nervous about what I was doing, I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

He sighed. One thing at a time, he supposed.

“So...now what?” Gumshoe looked from him to Badd, who had just caught up to them.

“One of the groom’s parents,” Badd said, unwrapping a new lollipop.

Byrne nodded. “They both clearly resented the victim for encouraging their son to break up with his old girlfriend, and our reports of their movements during the night are spotty.”

“And all the catering staff mentioned how they both...walked into the kitchen...to complain about the food. Even if the platter wasn’t used that day, they could still have gotten access to it.”

Gumshoe stared at them openly. “Whoa. How did you do that?”

“What, figuring that out?”

“Well, yeah, but- I never saw you talk to each other, so how did you get the same answer?”

They looked at each other and shrugged. “We’ve worked together for a long time,” Byrne said.

“Oh.” His puzzled frown only partially dissipated. “So, now what?”

“We start asking some...new questions while Faraday does the trial paperwork, and then...we meet up to figure out a new plan of attack.”

It was practical, but, more importantly, gave Byrne a break from Gumshoe. He nodded, and headed off, letting Badd handle whatever other question had started brewing in the other detective.

---

“...we understand that they don’t want to reschedule the honeymoon. We’re working as quickly as we can,” Byrne said to the officer as evenly as he could. Despite being quite sure of the culprit now, the past few days had been such a series of problems that they’d barely gotten anywhere. A mix-up at the forensics lab, several lengthy arguments with the wedding party, and today, the photographer’s camera had gotten dropped down a few concrete stairs into a puddle. And of course she didn’t have any kind of backups, so he was going to have to find time to try and salvage that, or they’d be down some potentially crucial evidence.

He’d just turned to the forensic officer when there was an “uh, Mr. Faraday?”

“In a moment, Detective Gumshoe,” he said with strained politeness as he tried to read the scribbly lab tech handwriting. They knew there had been something in the victim’s system, but it hadn’t been anything obvious, and since neither chemistry or biology was his science, deciphering these notes gave him headaches at the best of times.

“Excuse me, sir.” It was one of the secretaries from the Prosecutor’s Office, who barely waited for him to turn his head before continuing. “The Chief Prosecutor needs to speak with you about your case from last month.”

“The Chief Prosecutor can-” he disguised cutting off his instinctual reply with a cough. Forcing the tension out, he said, “The Chief Prosecutor is going to have to wait a moment.” He looked at the report again. If he was reading it right, they’d at least figured out it was something plant-based, but-

“Mr. Faraday?”

“What?” he snapped. He regretted it instantly as everyone flinched. “I’m sorry, Detective,” he said, politeness stretched over tension, “unless your question is urgent, please go bother Badd about it.”

“Oh, it’s not a question. I, uh. I fixed the camera.”

That knocked the swirl of thoughts out of his head. “I beg your pardon?” he asked on autopilot.

“Yeah.” He retrieved the device from one of his coat pockets. The viewing screen was still cracked, but it was clean and significantly less dented on the side. A press of a button and it powered to life. “I didn’t have the stuff to fix the screen,” Gumshoe explained as he handed it to Byrne, who took it automatically, “so we’re still going to have to pay her for breaking it, but it connects to a computer just fine!”

Sure enough, he could cycle through the features and the album well enough, just not with much visibility. “This is- How did you do this?” He hadn’t thought it would be unsalvageable, but that was for himself. It had barely been a few hours.

Under the staring, Gumshoe turned his head to the side, fidgeting with his collar. “Well, I drop my phone in water all the time, and this was way easier to take apart to dry out. Then I talked to one of the guys in IT – he was real nice – and he let me borrow some of his tools, and…” He shrugged. When Byrne didn’t say anything for a moment, he shrunk a bit more. “Did I mess up, sir?”

He shook his head. “No.” Words came slowly as he dragged himself out of shock. “Next time, ask permission before you tinker with evidence like that, but this is...very good.” Then, genuinely, “Thank you, detective.”

Now it was his turn to stare, although Byrne didn’t think he’d been so wide-eyed. “Wow, really? I mean, thank you, Mr. Faraday.”

He couldn’t help a tiny smile. “You’re welcome. Now, if you can keep being useful,” Byrne handed him back the camera, “get all the pictures from the day, and start going through them with Badd.”

Gumshoe accepted the camera with reverent care. “Yes, sir!” He saluted, the intense energy behind it coming not from nerves this time, but from brimming over with excitement.

Byrne nodded and waved him off. Well, that was one considerable weight off his shoulders. He was still looking forward to when this case was over, but in the meantime, between his eagerness to be helpful and surprising adeptness in multiple areas, it seemed Badd had been right about Gumshoe having potential after all.

#aaprosecutorweek2021 #ace attorney #Byrne Faraday #Detective Gumshoe #Tyrell Badd #Kay Faraday #aai2 spoilers #vaguely. for bastard man inclusion because that little scene compelled me #I wasn't sure how I felt about this one this morning but I'm just off my editing reread and actually this is hype #an aquila original #fanfiction #my writing #every prosecutor is a little bit of a bastard and this is byrne being the less fun version of his bastard energy #reminisn't au

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