"S-Show me!" Phoenix protested as Edgeworth chuckled, protectively grasping the device close to his chest across the, now dirtied with empty plates and used cutlery, table.
"No."
"Sh-Show me, or I'll-waah!" The spiky-haired man cried out in shock with fear-widened eyes as the patterned table-cloth he'd been clutching as he'd spoken was suddenly whipped away from beneath him with the brief, blissful, clattering of plates.
"Y-You broke th-the plates...?"
"Relax. I have more than enough money to buy more,"
"Wh-Why would y-you-"
"I don't know," Edgeworth shrugged with a smirk upon his face;
"I guess I just felt like making you jump."
"Wh-Why, you..!" Phoenix instantly rose from his seat with a predominant blush upon his cheeks, clumsily staggering over towards the prosecutor's side of the table and gesturing to the lock-screen of the sleek, black phone.
"Sh-Show me, p-please?" The silvery-haired man sighed at the shorter, clamouring, man beside him and felt a wave of compassion overcoming his senses.

Showing him a few photos couldn't do any harm, could it? All he was protecting was his pride.

"Fine." Edgeworth chuckled as he unlocked the thing to reveal his filled camera-roll, dozens of familiar faces - one familiar face in many photos - tumbling into view as he gently swiped the shiny screen, lightly caressing the jet-black-haired man in the snapshots' features so as not to hurt him. The pictures were each as humiliatingly hilarious as the previous one, and the defence attorney couldn't help but giggle childishly at the pixelated recreations of his past self doing silly dances and striking immature poses, and he couldn't help but feel his cheeks heating up like microwaves as he noticed photos of him that Edgeworth refused to zoom in on and reveal to him - photos that seemed to show a lot more of the colour cream. The pair had continued in this manner of boasting, jostling each other, and just generally laughing until the phone emitted a short buzz, and a notification appeared at the top of the screen. Usually, Phoenix would merely skim through such things as, on Edgeworth's phone, most of these types of banner alerts were usually just trashy advertisements about 'housing' or work-related projects, however... This notification was different.

This notification made the defence attorney's heart stop, and his body go numb.

It shouldn't have affected him so much, should it?

Perhaps he'd simply got too attached.

Perhaps he'd stepped over the line.

Perhaps he'd just... Misinterpreted the situation?

But, whatever it was, Phoenix couldn't help but feel the twinge of betrayal growing within him as he read the bold words encrypted within part of the device's coding:
Messages: 1s ago
Atramentous: 'Hey babe, want to meet up later today? Last night was soo fun ;))'
It took the prosecutor a moment to drag his eyes off of the images of his boyfriend and onto the notification, his only method of sight squinting as he read the text, with his heart pounding faster (in time with the spiky-haired man's) as he processed what it meant and felt the mass of the hand gripping his shoulder loosen until it was just a dead weight upon his body. When neither of them had made any attempt to speak after at least five minutes, Phoenix forced himself to let out a timid, hoarse, sentence;
"E-Edgeworth... Wh-Who's this... 'A-Atramentous'?" He could barely hide the tears welling in the pits of his stark, blue, eyes as he spoke, convulsing with noises emerging from his voice-box.
"I have no clue."
"D-Don't lie to me, E-Edgeworth.."
"Huh?" The prosecutor widened his eyes as the pressure of his trembling boyfriend's baby-hand had finally completely left his shoulder and he snapped his head around to meet the other's afraid eyes, the vulnerability of nine months ago seeping through the fabric of trust that the two of them had slowly rebuilt - together.
"You don't... You don't believe me?" Edgeworth wanted to swallow those words immediately as soon as they'd left the confines of his mouth.

He realised he didn't want to know the answer to that particular query.

"N-No, I-I don't," Phoenix hugged himself, shivering as things began to haunt him again. Things from his past.
Things from their past. The dark basement that he never wanted to return to. The criminal that he'd been violated by... A man whom he'd never been allowed to meet. Prescribed drugs.

Those prescribed anti-depressants..

His eyes met Edgeworth's sleek grey ones as he thought.

.. And the non-prescribed anti-depressants.

"What? I'd never betray you like that! You should know tha-"
"L-Last night w-was the o-only night w-we hadn't slept t-together in... Wh-What, nine m-months? A-And th-this shady figure t-turns up telling y-you that that v-very night w-was 'fun'..." Phoenix's voice trailed off and his eyes fell from the prosecutor's.
"Phoenix, I'm telling you, I don't know any Atramentouses!" The prosecutor's voice was wavering as he noticed the doubt in his boyfriend's forlorn eyes.
"Don't you believe me? I'd never dream of doing something so... Vulgar with anyone else! I only have eyes for you! I love you!" Edgeworth hastily dropped the phone and rose from his seat, locked his arms around the hips of his boyfriend - who appeared to attempt to back away immediately like a deer caught in headlights - and held on tightly so that neither could part.
"L-Let go.." The defence attorney quivered violently, his voice a mere broken whisper.
"No, I'm not letting go." Phoenix meekly tried to push the taller man away by placing his palms upon the prosecutor's chest and applying as much force as he could (which wasn't very much), but it was no use. The two remained in bleak silence for a moment, bar their coherent breathing as they calmed down, until a quiet voice finally shattered the metaphorically formed glass;

"Y-You've been playing me f-for a fool.."