ACE ATTORNEY AU

[enigmaster]

Comments

[agoodname]

Yes, well, my goal wasn't to get those other pawns back, so they hardly matter. [he rolls the one in his hand between thumb and index finger] Just this one.

[enigmaster]

Mhm, well. Good, then.

[He's just. Going to start putting the chess set away.]

[agoodname]

[and Oswald will help him, of course, fingers accidentally brushing across the back of his hand. He pauses, though, just before he puts that pawn away, considering it. Before he just smirks a bit to himself and pushes to his feet, walking over to place it on the mantle above the fireplace]

[enigmaster]

Oh. My god. [OSWALD COBBLEPOT] You know the game is missing a pawn, now.

[agoodname]

That's fine. When we play again, I'll just take it down from the mantle. [and he'll waltz back over, obviously pleased with himself, and plop himself onto the couch]

[enigmaster]

[Edward rolls his eyes and just... sits down next to Oswald. This is so stupid.

But. He kind of wants to just chill, now. He's. Just gonna pull out his phone.]

[agoodname]

[and Oswald just....tilts sideways a bit, so their shoulders are touching.]

[enigmaster]

[...Edward leans into it, a little, as he occupies himself with some phone sudoku.]

[agoodname]

[and Oswald will just...relax into that a bit, leaning his head on Edward's shoulder, watching him do phone sudoku for a bit. It's...soothing. Nice.]

[enigmaster]

[It's a bit of time of just... sitting there, relaxing. Nothing much happening. Just Oswald, there, close, and the numbers of the game. It keeps him grounded enough.]

[agoodname]

[After he's finished about four or five rounds of sudoku (extra difficult)--he'll speak up]

Edward?

[enigmaster]

[Edward doesn't look up, really. He's still a bit distracted.] Hm?

[agoodname]

Can I ask you about Halloween?

[enigmaster]

[And... Oswald will probably feel Edward tensing up, at that. There's silence, at first.] ...What about it?

[agoodname]

Just...what happened? You mentioned getting trapped in a small space, but...I can't see that happening on accident.

[enigmaster]

...It... didn't, no. [Edward's quiet a bit more, again. Looking at his phone, before putting it down and... sitting up a bit more.] It was, um... It's kind of a whole thing, I guess...

[agoodname]

[Oswald sits up a bit, too, but still stays close, so he can look at Edward] What happened?

[enigmaster]

Um... Okay. So... [Edward swallows. This isn't a story he's shared before.] So back in high school, when I was fifteen... Well. I'd switched schools a lot, already, and when I got to that one the rumors about me kind of started early. It... wasn't great. It made it kind of hard to really talk to anyone, you know? But, um... There was this boy. Thomas, but insisted on being called Tommy... He wasn't scared off by the things people were saying about me. He thought it was really interesting, actually. That's what he said, when he sought me out to talk about it.

[agoodname]

["Interesting."

Ah.

Well.]

So...he wanted to talk to you about the rumors surrounding you.

[enigmaster]

Yeah. He kind of liked, um. Standing out, you know. [All about the attention. That kind.] And I really stood out, so I guess that's what made me interesting to him. And we just kind of started... hanging out? He didn't really... He never said anything bad about the ghosts thing, you know? I don't think he believed it, but it didn't push him away, either, and back then that was enough. We spent a lot of time together. I kind of... liked him, back then, but probably just because he was the only person who actually talked to me. Because I never really liked the same things as him or anything. I did a bunch of things I didn't really like, at all, because I was just... scared he'd get tired of me and leave.

[agoodname]

...I can understand that. [boy can he. and his hand shifts to rest on Edward's knee again, supportive]

[enigmaster]

...It wasn't really a great time, looking back at it, but it was... what I had, you know? [Between that or nothing, he thought it was better. When you're starving, even rotten food can look good.] But, um... things got a little weird between us. I don't know how, exactly... I thought maybe I said the wrong thing to him a few times or... maybe he was just getting bored of me. I don't know. [...] ...Then, um. Our school was doing a bunch of things for Halloween. Well, you know Gotham, they were... really going all out. You know?

[agoodname]

As they always do, yes.

[enigmaster]

Mhm. They were setting it up in advance, working hard on it and everything. There was this whole haunted house they were doing and everything. ...And Tommy, he said there was something he wanted to do. So, um. It wasn't a school day, but we broke in. To take a look at everything. He said... it'd be fun. [Edward swallows, nervously. Breathing out for a moment.] He wanted to mess around with stuff. Break some of it, I don't know, he has a shitty sense of humor. But I didn't... really want to.

[agoodname]

Of course not. That doesn't sound like you at all. [gently, thumb petting against the fabric at Edward's knee. Again: soothing]