i know it's not much, but it's the best i can do: my gift is my song, and, this one's for you
and you can tell everybody that this is your song. it may be quite simple, but, now that it's done
i hope you don't mind, i hope you don't mind that i put down in the words
how wonderful life is when you're in the world

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

"Why do you do this to me, Donald?! Why do you always heal me right after I heal myself?!"

"Don't be so mean to Donald!" Maya tried to sound serious and sad, but couldn't manage a believable act through her laughter. Phoenix groaned as he lost his battle for the fifth time in a row and threw down his controller.

"He just can't get his timing right!" Phoenix shouted at Maya. "I'm doing all of the work, and he just sits there and wastes all his magic and the potions I give him! Those things are expensive!"

"Settle down, Nick!" Maya sputtered through another laughing fit. "If you get any more mad, you'll scare Pearly!"

Phoenix paused to look over at Pearl. She was collapsed on the cushions, kicking her feet and giggling uncontrollably to the point that tears were springing from the corners of her eyes.

"I think she's fine," Phoenix grumbled. "I'm glad you so enjoy my suffering, Pearls."

Pearl gasped and put a hand over her mouth.

"N-No, of course not! But Mr. Nick— if Mr. Donald truly causes you so much stress, why not fight with Mr. Goofy? I don't think you hate Mr. Donald as much as you pretend to."

Phoenix sighed, but couldn't hide his smile. It was cute, how seriously Pearl took the friendship and battle dynamics of video game characters. ...She was wrong about Donald, though. Phoenix truly despised him.

"Sometimes his magic works, and I can't use up all my magic to heal myself this round! I can't get physically close enough to Maleficent to slash her without getting hit by the fire, so I need to use long-range magic attacks."

"Ah!" Pearl's eyes lit up with admiration. "So smart, Mr. Nick! Using such strategy... You truly are a hero!"

"Come on, Nick!" Maya elbowed Phoenix. "Try just one more time, huh?"

Phoenix grumbled and whined as Pearl and Maya began a chant urging him to try the battle just one more time. Before he could refuse them, the door to Larry's bedroom was suddenly flung open.

"Quiet down already! Some of us are trying to get our beauty sleep!"

Larry pointed the pillow under his arm at Maya, who stuck her tongue out at him, and then turned to head back to his room.

"You're gonna need a lot more beauty sleep than what you're getting now, Scruffy!" Maya called after him. He stopped halfway through closing his door to throw the pillow at Maya. It took him a moment before he realized that he actually needed it and awkwardly crept into the living room to retrieve it.

"We'll go to bed, Larry. You get some sleep— we've got a lot of artwork to finish by the end of the week, right? I'm gonna have to wake you up early," Phoenix said quietly.

Larry grumbled something under his breath as he realized that Phoenix was correct. Maya smiled and gestured at the nearly-finished sculpture on Larry's work table.

"I like that one, by the way. Her clothes kind of look like mine."

Larry grinned and folded his arms, using one hand to stroke his own chin.

"That's intentional, of course. Mr. Shields wants the store's first art exhibit to focus on the local culture and history, so I'm sculpting a shrine maiden inspired by the Fey clan's traditional garments and the local Japanese population."

Pearl's face brightened, and she blushed, clapping her little hands.

"How splendid!"

"And I'm sure her resemblance to a certain violinist twin is just a coincidence, right—"

"Anyway, I've gotta get to bed," Larry shouted, interrupting Phoenix. "You three settle down."

Pearl waved at his back as he returned to his bedroom.

"Bye, Mr. Butz! Have a nice sleep!"

Larry stopped for just a moment to smile at her.

"You too, Pearls."

Larry closed his bedroom door behind him, and Phoenix and the Fey girls were alone once again. Phoenix retrieved the controller and stood to turn the PlayStation off.

"He's got a point, guys. It's way past your bedtime, Pearls! Did you guys still want me to clear up some space for those futons, or—"

"Nick, you're so dense," Maya interjected. "We don't care about sleeping on the couch. We like being together!"

"...But you sent me off early to set up the—"

"Go to bed, Nick." Phoenix could just barely see her roll her eyes. "We'll see you in the morning, okay?"

Phoenix frowned and looked like he wanted to say something, but obeyed her commands and disappeared into his own bedroom after giving Pearl a final hair ruffle. Maya stood to rearrange the sofa the way that Pearl liked it, where they each slept curled up on one part of it and their heads nearly touched. Pearl was still small enough that she could fit in the shorter part of the "L" shape with plenty of room to stretch, while Maya, also short, slept on the longer part.

Pearl didn't take long to fall asleep once a room was completely dark. Maya couldn't help but smile at the way she clutched her Blue Badger plush, the one she'd said she got from the nice detective who came to help the Feys whenever they had a problem. The apartment fell completely silent apart from the soft sound of Pearl's breathing, and after a minute or two, Maya heard the quiet vibration of her cell phone. She quickly picked it up before it could wake her cousin.

"How did the talk go?" Ema's voice demanded. Maya grinned.

"It went exactly as planned. I convinced him! He's probably still discussing it with his Uncle right about now," Maya whispered back. She heard Ema's joyous shriek in the distance, like she'd moved the phone away from herself to avoid making too much noise.

"So he's transferring. He'll still have to pick his classes out, so that means—"

"Exactly!" Maya replied, as excited as she could sound while still whispering. "Operation study buddies is a go!"

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

"That's the last of 'em," Larry groaned, finally allowing himself to plop down onto his bed. He heard Phoenix collapse behind him.

The school year formally began tomorrow, meaning that today was move-in day. Phoenix and Larry had been so swamped with moving the contents of their apartment, including their still-in-progress artwork that had to be carefully transported, that they hadn't even had time to figure out where their friends were staying.

The dorms were nice in this section of the building. All of the art students flocked to it for its large windows. Natural light, after all, was the lifeblood of a serious artist. That said, Larry and Phoenix had been forced to sacrifice space for lighting, so the dorm was pretty cramped. Thankfully, their apartment had left them more or less accustomed to these sorts of arrangements. Phoenix wondered what the spacious solitary dorms on the top floors were like.

Larry recovered from his exhaustion first, mostly because he'd let Phoenix do most of the heavy lifting, and lazily pulled out his phone. He dialed Maya's number by memory. Her happy voice greeted him before he could say anything.

"Hey, Larry! You guys all settled in?"

"Yeah, we are," he grunted, trying to stretch out the strain in his back. "How about you?"

"Me and Ema and Franny and Adrian are ready! We're not neighbors with Iris like last year, but we're on the same floor as her AND Adrian and Franny, so it works out for the best in the end!"

"Sweet! I wish we could live in the girls' building, 'cuz then we could all be together."

"Well, there's the new gender-neutral building, but Ema says it's important that we save those rooms for the people who really need them, y'know?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get that."

The conversation stayed casual for a short while, and then Maya could contain herself no longer.

"Okay, I HAVE to tell you! If I don't tell at least one more person, I'm gonna end up exploding and Nick is gonna find out—"

Larry abruptly stood to leave the room. He realized only as he closed the door behind him that Phoenix had fallen asleep, but he took the extra step of leaving the room anyway. Out in the hall, a few people still ran about with their boxes, and at the end a couple of guys were trying to get an oversized mattress in through the door. The RA stood at the door to the stairwell, keeping an eye on everyone and making sure things ran smoothly.

"What's goin' on, Maya? You can tell me, and I'll keep my mouth shut."

Larry was certain that he heard Maya grin.

"Guess who I convinced to transfer to Ivy U?"

"...Don't tell me. Edgy?! How'd you manage that?!" Larry truly had no idea. Maya cackled through the phone, something that sounded very odd with the slight bit of static.

"I have my ways. Anyway, we're keeping it a secret from Nick for now. And he's moving into the solo dorms. ...He's all by himself, Larry. No roommate to help him—"

Larry interrupted her with a groan.

"But I just finished moving in with Nick!"

"Just help him out, okay?! If you do..." Maya lowered her voice slightly. "...Well, Dahlia refuses to offer Iris any help. If you help Miles, I'll tell her that her knight in shining armor might be able to come by and assist her later—"

"Got it, I'm on it!"

Maya chuckled knowingly.

"Thanks, Larry."

Larry sighed as soon as he was finished with his call, and then he made his way for the stairwell. He'd never actually been to the top floor before, so it would at least be nice that he had an excuse to see it.

By the end of today, I'll probably qualify as a professional mover, he thought.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Phoenix yawned as he carefully made his way through the halls of the girls' building. Though no one had ever scolded him for being there, he couldn't help but feel nervous, so he always made an effort to appear non-threatening. Maya once told him that he always looked completely harmless. ...He wasn't sure if that was a compliment or an insult.

He'd called his parents to tell them all about move-in day and what he planned to do this year, and then he'd noticed that Larry had snuck off somewhere and wasn't responding to his texts. He'd decided to let it slide for now and introduced himself to the RA, and then he'd gotten a frantic text from Maya demanding that he come to her dorm. She'd refused to answer any of his questions, and so, here he was.

"Hey, Franziska!"

Phoenix called out to the German girl, who he saw standing in the doorway of one of the dorms and speaking to someone inside. She only offered him a nod and a lazy half-wave. Phoenix guessed that her discussion was simply more important. He'd ask her about her living arrangements later.

He found the room number that Maya had texted him and worked up his courage. He tapped on the door with his knuckles and heard feet inside. Ema opened the door and tugged him into the room, slamming it shut behind him and turning the lock.

"...Uh, you're going to give people the wrong idea—"

"Have a seat, Nick!" Ema said it brightly, but it was a command. Phoenix looked to the center of the room to find a sitting area made up of a low table and floor cushions. He sat down, folding his knees the way his grandmother had taught him to do, which Maya noticed and smiled at. Ema joined them.

There was a long silence in which Maya and Ema looked at each other and didn't say anything, but still seemed to be having a conversation. Phoenix idly noticed a binder under the table.

"So, Nick, we haven't been pushing you so far. We've all been helping you without question, but we still haven't addressed the elephant in the room..." Maya spoke quietly, casually. Phoenix still tensed up.

"...I don't know what we're talking about," he lied. He had a vague idea. Ema sighed.

"He's a man, Nick. Miles is. And you like him. That means—"

"I haven't really thought about it, okay?! I was... I was hoping we could just ignore that part, I guess."

Maya rolled her eyes.

"If you really don't wanna have this discussion, you don't have to. We won't force you."

Which is why you locked the door? To encourage my independence?!

"We only locked the door for privacy," Ema added. Phoenix was very concerned, all of a sudden, that everyone could see the thoughts written on his face.

"...I-I mean, I guess I may as well get it over with—"

That was all it took for Maya to crawl over to his side, taking him by the shoulders to shake him, and for Ema to pull out the binder and lean forward across the table with a very determined sparkle in her eyes.

"D-Don't grab me!"

"Fess up, Nick! You'll feel better if you do! Be honest— is he the first guy you've ever liked? Has it only been girls up until now, or have you always swung both ways?!"

"Would you describe it as a sexual attraction, or is it purely romantic? Is he your type, physically?!"

Phoenix covered his eyes as he felt his face reddening.

"You have to give me time to answer the questions!" Both of the girls calmed down a little, leaving him the time and space to collect his thoughts. "I-I... guess I've noticed guys before, but nothing too serious. I guess I thought that everybody notices people of the same sex every once in a while."

"That's not entirely incorrect," Ema replied, suddenly very calm. "Just about everyone has a few exceptions, and we can sometimes appreciate people outside our usual attractions without wanting anything more. If this is a one time-thing and you're not comfortable adopting a label, that's fine! We just want to know how to go forward from here."

"Why are you talking like some kind of orientation professor?" Phoenix grumbled. Maya gasped and slapped him on the back.

"Wait, Nick, are you telling me you seriously didn't know?! Ema, did you never mention it to him?!"

"I guess I didn't," Ema said with a shrug. She looked more confused than annoyed, and she pointed at the binder on the table. Phoenix just then noticed all of the rainbow stickers. Well, not all of them were rainbow. There were stripes of other colors, too.

"...What is that?"

"It's Ivy University's handy guidebook on LGBTQ+ identities. It's for the alliance," she explained. Something in her expression seemed very mature.

"...Why do you have it?"

"Geez! Talk about clueless!" Maya groaned. "Ema is the head of recruitment for our school's LGBTQ+ Alliance! She's listed on the bulletins and everything!"

"Huh?! But aren't you straight?!"

"No."

The answer was so straightforward that Phoenix didn't react. Before he could, Ema gestured at the breast of her coat. It was her favorite casual lab coat, and she wore buttons all over the front of it. She pointed at a specific heart-shaped button with stripes of blue, pink, and purple.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked. Phoenix shook his head. Ema opened up the binder to the B section and stopped at the entry for Bisexual. There was that flag again— the one on Ema's button. Phoenix felt his face flush.

"I-I..." Phoenix stammered. "I'm really sorry. I didn't know. I know it must be important to you, if you're in the alliance and you wear that button..."

"It is important," she said emphatically. A second, and then something in her eyes hardened. "It's important to me, and I don't care what anybody else thinks!"

"...I-I don't care, Ema," Phoenix insisted. "I mean, I do care, but it doesn't change anything. You're still Ema."

He wondered what had upset her for that brief moment, but whatever it was, it quickly passed. Her smile returned, brighter than ever, and Phoenix sighed as he took the binder and closely read over the entry on bisexuality. As he read over the questions, he was still faced with the same problem that he had been dealing with all along, and he wasn't quite sure he had the words to explain it.

"I don't know," he whined. "It just doesn't feel right for me, and I don't know to explain it."

Maya and Ema both started asking him confused questions before he could sort his thoughts out, prompting him to mess up his own hair and let out an exaggerated groan before letting his face fall into the table. Maya clicked her tongue at him, something like a quiet scolding, while Ema tried to formulate a proper question.

"So this seems like a one-time thing, then, and you still consider yourself mostly straight? Because there's a word for that, too..."

"No, it's not that! Calling myself straight doesn't feel right either!"

Why do these things have to be so complicated?!

"Try and explain as best you can," Ema prodded.

"I just don't know," Phoenix began. "It's like... I don't know how to... See, the book defines it as the attraction to two or more genders, right? But that still... I don't know, it still feels too rigid!"

"...Rigid?" Ema leaned forward. She was listening. Somehow, the fact that Phoenix had friends who genuinely wanted to know, to help him, made his fear fade away. He soldiered on.

"I don't like 'girls' and 'guys'. I liked Iris, and now I like Miles, and... The fact that he's a guy didn't even occur to me, honestly! Not until Larry mentioned it. It's like, I just..." Phoenix was frustrated, now, at his inability to explain how he felt, especially when his friends were trying so hard to understand. "I just don't care! I just honestly don't even think about it, about gender, and there isn't a word for that!"

Ema's face went completely blank. She stared at Phoenix, not saying anything, for about ten seconds, exchanged a peculiar look with Maya, and then quietly flipped the pages of the book until she found a specific page and gestured at it, still not breaking eye contact. Phoenix was almost afraid to look down.

Pansexual: 1. The attraction to all genders. 2. Attraction regardless of gender or in which gender is not a factor.

Silence.

It seemed that there was, in fact, a word for that.

"...Oh," Phoenix finally breathed. Ema fell into a fit of giggles, and Maya slapped a palm against her forehead.

"That's all you have to say?!" Maya exclaimed through a laugh.

"I... I've never heard the word before! I didn't know!"

Ema shook her head, clicking her tongue as she fished in the back of the binder and pulled out a mini-booklet. She handed it to Phoenix. Am I Pansexual? A Beginner's a Guide to Pansexuality. Phoenix blushed.

"...F-Flag's nice, I guess. Kinda like a pastel rainbow—"

"Just promise me you'll read it, okay?" Ema interrupted, laughing as she stood up. "If you decide you don't like labels, that's fine. And if you do like it, you don't have to go around wearing an official t-shirt or anything. That said, we're always looking for more members!"

Maya stood, and she helped Phoenix to his feet. He breathed a sigh of relief as Ema went to unlock the door. Maya gave him an apologetic pat on the back.

"Don't worry, Nick— we won't keep you any longer. You're free to go!"

Phoenix didn't need any more permission than that. He took his pamphlet, tucked it into his sweatshirt, and ran.

As soon as he got back to his dorm, he found Larry— unconscious, breathing heavily, and covered in sweat— sprawled across the bean-bag chair closest to the door. He laughed as he threw a blanket over his friend. He'd pester him about what he'd been up to later.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Day one of classes, and Phoenix already found himself flustered and rushing about the halls.

He'd stopped by the bookstore the evening before and told Miles all about moving in. Miles had seemed oddly distant, like he was lost in thought, but he had teased Phoenix about having to move all of the books he'd gotten recently. Phoenix realized with a heavy blush that he'd have to start reading and reselling those soon, lest Miles get suspicious of him.

Phoenix had forgotten to get an actual bag to carry his books and art supplies in. The one he'd used the previous year had torn open, since he always insisted on buying things on the cheap, and he'd continuously put it off. It was how he ended up running through the campus of Ivy U with an arm full of books and a case of pencils clenched in his teeth, narrowly avoiding several collisions. Larry hadn't bothered to bring any of his books or supplies (besides the laptop he tucked under his arm), surely planning to siphon them off of the others, and was now well ahead of him.

"Hold on, Larry!"

"Nah, man! I don't wanna be late!"

"But I had to wake you up, you asshole!"

Several passerby laughed at the exchange.

Despite his trouble, Phoenix made it into his classroom before the professor had finished setting everything up and plopped down into his favorite seat. It was odd, seeing the vice principal teaching an art history class, but it took an array of teachers to cover her classes while the faculty struggled to hire a good enough replacement for Mia Fey.

No one would ever be able to fully replace her, of course.

Phoenix ignored the sad little tug at his heartstrings as he finally managed to open his tablet and set up its stand. Maya laughed as he set everything else below the desk, chiding him about forgetting to buy a bag as Ema snickered. Larry took the seat directly in front of him, making Phoenix curse the volume of his hair. To his left, Miles quietly organized his note sheets, while Iris, in front of Miles, giggled at Larry's antics as she agreed to share some of her supplies with him if he needed them. Her sister sat beside her and scowled at the exchange. Adrian and Franziska were side-by-side in the front row.

...Wait.

"MILES?!"

Phoenix's shock escaped from him in the form of a loud outburst, one that hardly stirred a reaction in the man himself. Maya and Ema high-fived one another. Larry was clearly trying not to laugh.

You all knew about this?! Phoenix thought, feeling the sudden urge to punch Larry in the back of the head.

"Hello, Phoenix," Miles murmured as he adjusted his glasses. He looked so delightfully smart and studious, exactly how Phoenix had imagined he would look in a classroom (not that it was important right now). "Cutting it a bit close, I see."

"What are you doing here?!"

"...Studying art history," Miles replied flatly. He was trying to act casual, but Phoenix caught the tug at the corner of his lip that gave his concealed smirk away. "I do need a great deal of art credits, and Miss Maya said that this is the class you all agreed to take together, so—"

"You're not at work, Miles! Just Maya is fine!"

"Right. ...Maya."

In front, Mr. Payne implored the class to settle down and pay attention to the lecture notes projected on the screen in front. The room quickly began to settle into silence, and Phoenix, unfortunately, did not notice, and didn't lower his voice one bit.

"No, seriously, why are you here?! I was just there yesterday, why didn't you tell me you were transferring?! I would have—"

"Mr. Wright!"

Phoenix felt himself instantly turn bright red as everyone's eyes turned to focus on him and Mr. Payne pointed at him with his pointing stick (what the hell are those things called, anyway?). He was all too aware of Franziska's judgmental scowl.

"...S-Sorry," Phoenix choked as he planted himself properly in his seat once again. He swore he saw Miles hide his face behind his notebook to laugh at him.

━━━━━━ ◦ ❖ ◦ ━━━━━━

Phoenix wore a scowl on his face when he sat down at his friends' lunch table. Miles was seated between Larry and Maya, and he looked completely calm. He nodded in greeting.

"Phoenix."

"Don't you just 'Phoenix' me! You still haven't explained why you didn't tell me you were transferring! I got scolded after class because of the stunt you guys pulled!"

"You shouldn't worry so much, Nick. Payne is just a hardass," Larry said dismissively.

"We just wanted to surprise you," Maya insisted, batting her eyelashes innocently. Ema joined the table just then, carrying a tray with food for herself and Maya (burgers, of course). Phoenix noted that Miles was eating a small salad, and with hardly any dressing at all... It was no wonder his figure was so trim.

"Come on, sit down!" Ema pleaded. Phoenix did so, but did so grumbling under his breath while Miles shook his head. Phoenix stared at him while his gaze was still lowered. It was strange, seeing him somewhere besides the store or his own apartment, even after their excursion to the park.

"...B-But really, why the transfer?" Phoenix eventually asked, once he had worked past his frustration. Miles flinched. He suddenly looked embarrassed.

"It's not important," he replied too quickly. When he didn't elaborate, Larry laughed.

"Don't even try it, man. Maya told me all about your little heart-to-heart—"

Miles reflexively sprang up and shot Larry the coldest glare Phoenix had ever seen. The fact that it was accompanied by a faint blush was strange, and... Well, cute.

"Shut up, Butz!"

That was all it took to completely cure Phoenix's mood. He sputtered out an unattractive chuckle, and Miles' glare focused in on him.

"You really are just a tsun—"

"I am no such thing!" Miles interrupted. "I looked that word up, you know. It admittedly took me several tries to figure out how it's spelled, but..."

"Why didn't you just use Siri and say it out loud?" Larry asked through a mouthful of his sandwich. Miles apparently hadn't thought of this, and he turned as red as his sweater.

"Sh-Shut up. The point is, if he's going to call me names, he should do so in a language I can actually understand!"

"These two knew what it meant! It's an anime term," Phoenix argued. Miles huffed, but let the argument end there. Maya teased him for a minute or so before she left him alone. After a moment, she elbowed him and said something about a schedule, which prompted Miles to nod and produce a piece of paper and a pen.

"What's that?" Larry asked. Miles frowned, briefly, at the fact that Larry so often insisted on talking with his mouth full of food.

"It's my schedule. My transfer was so last minute that it's not completed yet. I have the list of open arts classes here, as well..." He produced a second paper from this jacket. Phoenix recognized most of the classes. He quirked an eyebrow.

"You wanna fill all your remaining slots with art classes? Why do you need that many art credits?"

Come to think of it, that's just... A lot of credits in general, Phoenix noticed.

"Well, I've already gotten most of the essential courses out of the way, besides my English classes. I'm double majoring, both in the field of arts. I need all of the art classes I can get. I thought I would ask the lot of you for recommendations, seeing as you're all art majors. I figured it couldn't hurt to try something new."

"D-DOUBLE MAJ—" Phoenix couldn't finish his sentence. Every time he learned more of these kinds of incredible details about Miles, he ended up emotionally conflicted. On the one hand, it made him fall for him that much more, and on the other it reminded him how incredibly out of his league Miles was. Maya could sense this, apparently, and shot him a look that said "calm down".

"So what are your majors?" Ema asked. Miles avoided looking at her.

"Music— Performance, specifically— and Creative Writing."

"Writing? You also write?" Phoenix thought aloud. He suddenly remembered that Miles' father, the one he didn't want to talk about, had been a well-known author, and perhaps that was why he hadn't mentioned it thus far. Miles' odd expression was enough to confirm this suspicion.

"A writer, huh?! I mentioned that I write Sci-fi myself, and the Hawthorne sisters are also poets. Iris writes some short romance stories on occasion, too," Ema excitedly explained. Miles offered her a nervous nod. Phoenix hoped that she would take the hint and avoid pushing the subject too far.

"A-anyway, on the subject of courses, you should try taking Intro to Photography with Larry and I! I'm minoring in digital art, so I'm learning to take my own reference pictures to paint over for backgrounds," Phoenix suggested.

"And since you're a writer, you should take Japanese Literature and Poetry with Iris and Dahlia and I! It's really intriguing," Ema added.

"He'll like that one. He reads Japanese classics," Phoenix agreed with an innocent smile. Miles looked mildly startled that Phoenix had remembered that. After a moment, he smirked.

"Shouldn't you be in that class?"

"I'm in Traditions and Techniques of Asian Art with Maya already, so I've got my bases covered. Keeps grandma happy, anyway," Phoenix explained, blushing through his grin.

Everyone shouted their suggestions as Miles tried to focus on his papers. He checked off a few boxes, but Phoenix wasn't able to tell which ones. He hoped they would share more classes than just Art History, anyway.

"It would seem that we share World History and Culture 3," Miles added, instantly lifting Phoenix's spirits.

Before he could elaborate on how happy this made him, a sharp voice pierced the air.

"Miles Edgeworth!"

Larry recoiled in fear, while Maya nearly spilled her tea in her fright. Ema flashed a devious grin as soon as she locked eyes with the newcomer, clearly anticipating something interesting. To Phoenix's shock, Miles' eyes lit up with recognition.

"...Fran?"

Phoenix turned to see the familiar German girl standing with her hands on her hips, looking even more angry than usual. She lifted a finger to point directly at Miles as Adrian rushed through the cafeteria as fast as she could manage on clicking heels, clearly intending to stop her roommate before things got too out of hand.

"What right do you have to show your face in my domain?! Do you mean to challenge me once again?! Because things have changed, and now you may rest assured that I will crush you!"

"I'm sure that you will, but... I didn't know that you went here, Fran. It's a mere coincidence, I promise."

"Do not address me in such a casual fashion! You will call me by my full name!"

"Hold on, do you two KNOW EACH OTHER?!" Phoenix finally screeched as his brain caught up with his mouth. Today, it seemed, was simply one shock after another. Miles scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"No, Phoenix, I just magically know the names of people I've never met."

"H-hey, that's—"

"Do not distract him!" Franziska shouted, interrupting Phoenix before he could offer a retort. She gave Miles a ferocious look that he hadn't seen on her before. "Do not think that I have forgotten our rivalry!"

Miles smirked.

"Of course I haven't."

Franziska took a deep breath, folding her arms, and flashed a proud smile.

"I take it you have received my father's gift to you?"

Miles blinked for a moment as he thought, and then he seemed to register some kind of realization.

"The piano," he said, looking at Larry. Larry let out a long oh.

"...What are we talking about?" Phoenix asked Larry under his breath.

"There's a really nice grand piano in his dorm room. Guess Franzy set that up somehow. Or, her dad did, anyway—"

"When were you in his dorm?!"

"U-Uh... When I helped him move in this morning?"

Larry and Phoenix's squabbling was overshadowed by Miles and Franziska's. The pair exchanged a few more lines of dramatic, challenging dialogue before Adrian finally managed to pull the smaller girl away, apologizing profusely as she did so. Phoenix heard her shouting until Adrian pulled her outside, at which point her angry cries were muffled by the doors.

"...Okay, now I'm actually surprised," Larry said curiously. "How the heck do you two know each other?"

Miles looked at Phoenix, who was now nervously sipping from his soda can.

"I told you that I participated in some overseas music programs and studied under various tutors, did I not?" Phoenix nodded to indicate that he remembered. "Her father was the sponsor for said programs, and actually taught a few of them himself... We spent a great portion of our later childhood years together, often living in the same mansion. She's always thought of me as a rival, even if we don't play the same instruments."

"This is crazy!" Maya declared. "I mean, it's like it was all totally meant to be, right?! It's such a small world! And now you have a piano you can use to practice in your room! You obviously made the right decision."

"I suppose so," Miles agreed. "I... It's a bit embarrassing to admit, but I've always... sort of thought of her as my little sister." Phoenix choked on his soda, and Miles raised an eyebrow at him. "You ought to be more careful with your drinks. I can't have you nearly choking to death every time I say something you find even mildly startling. ...Do any of you happen to have her number, if you're all friends? I'd like to try and get to the bottom of what all of that showmanship was about..."

Maya reacted first, and she exchanged Franziska's number with him.

"While I'm at it, here's mine, and here's Larry's, and here's Nick's! Oh, and Ema, and Iris, too. I don't know that you would want Dahlia's number..."

"I doubt I'll need it," Miles retorted through a grimace.

The lunch period flew by after all of that discussion and excitement, giving Miles barely enough time to finish his salad. It was as he was leaving that he suddenly stopped and turned to face the group once more.

"I-I'm sorry, I nearly forgot... I wanted the lot of you to stop by my dorm this evening, if you find the time. I... have something for the three of you," he said, nodding at Larry and Maya and Phoenix. "...For your role in the transfer, that is. N-Nothing important, but... Anyway."

And then he turned on his heels and he was gone, and without a proper goodbye.

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Phoenix had difficulty focusing during his classes. All that he could think about was what Miles intended to give him. He'd invited Franziska and Iris along, with Miles' permission, and Larry had texted him the room number. He'd said that the dorm was pretty amazing, and that it made use of some of the furniture that the bookstore had replaced when it expanded.

He couldn't help himself— he got to the dorm room nearly thirty minutes early. He had formulated an excuse, though. Miles didn't look terribly surprised to see him.

"Ah. ...I suppose you can come in," he said, stepping aside to let Phoenix through the threshold. Phoenix laughed nervously.

"S-sorry. I just, uh..." Phoenix paused about halfway into the room, taking a moment to admire the large windows and the spacious layout. "I just wanted to, uh, apologize for being so grouchy at lunch. I'm happy you're here, really!"

Miles laughed softly. Most of his laughter was like that— a quick exhale of breath that one would miss if they weren't looking for it. His mouth often didn't move when he did it, and Phoenix wondered if others noticed.

"It's alright. I didn't think you would be so surprised, and that wasn't my intention. Truly. I just..." He trailed off, looking up at the ceiling as he thought back on something. "Maya really wanted to see the look on your face," he explained. Phoenix sighed.

"I figured as much."

Miles shook his head, and Phoenix took another step into the room. He tried to memorize everything. Larry had been right about his use of the store's old furniture— the old "counter" was now serving as a desk in one corner, and the store's former armchairs and side table sat beneath a window to form a reading nook. One of the shorter shelves held his personal collection of books. Phoenix decided he'd try to get close to it and read as many titles as he could.

"This dorm is massive!"

Miles shrugged.

"I believe they're only a small bit larger than the usual dorms, but the absence of furniture for a second person does make more available space. The windows are larger, though. That much I've confirmed."

"I'm jealous. Larry and I had to fight for one with big windows," Phoenix remembered bitterly.

"One of the primary purposes of these dorms is to assist students with mental disorders, so things like lots of space and sunlight seem like necessities."

Phoenix turned to look at Miles with a curious expression.

"Why did you want a solo dorm? Are they making you pay for it, or is it included in your scholarship?" Usually, Ivy U charged a fee for these dorms. That fee did not apply to people with certain conditions or certain kinds of scholarship. Miles flinched slightly, and his lips settled into a line before he responded.

"I simply don't do well rooming with others... I had a solitary room at Prestige, which was admittedly much harder to get. And the school only offered to pay for standard housing. My Uncle is paying the difference. He insists that it's fine, as we don't have to worry about tuition."

Phoenix smiled somewhat cheekily.

"Are you really scraping by like you seem to think, or are you just a little paranoid? These dorms can get pretty expensive—"

"I'm not paranoid," Miles retorted, folding his arms. "Income can fluctuate a great deal with small independent businesses, the same as it does in the writing business. ...We've had a surge in income recently, hence the merger and expansion. I suspect that's mostly because of you and your lot."

"I don't buy that many books!" Phoenix argued, but Miles wasn't hearing any of it.

"Of course not."

Phoenix plopped down on the couch in the center of Miles' room. It seemed to match the armchairs, even if it had never been used in the store. The coffee table was the one that had once sat in front of the armchairs. Miles' schoolbooks, sprawled out in neat stacks across it, told him that this was where he planned to do most of his studying.

"It's a nice place you've got here," he said.

"Didn't you see the piano?" Miles mumbled.

Phoenix perked up and looked over the back of the couch. He'd been so focused on trying to read the titles of the books on the shelf near the bed that he'd missed the piano to the shelf's left, placed in its own corner in the room with plenty of space around it.

"Oh," he squeaked, approaching it to carefully touch the polished surface. It was a very nice instrument, as far as he could tell, and came with a plush bench, the kind he'd only ever seen on TV in music halls. He grimaced as he pulled his hand away and noticed fingerprints, and he tried wiping them away with the end of his shirt. It worked well enough that no one would notice. Hopefully, anyway.

"I don't understand why she's giving this to me. Or her father, anyway. It's why I told Maya that she could invite her if she wanted to."

Phoenix chuckled.

"Why didn't you just invite her yourself?" He couldn't help but laugh at the way Miles scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"I can't just show her all of my cards right out of the gate, can I? What kind of rivalry would that be?"

Before Phoenix could respond, there was a knock at the door. He recognized the insistent but song-like pattern of it.

"Maya," he said as Miles moved to open the door. He quirked an eyebrow at Phoenix, apparently assuming that Phoenix couldn't possibly know her by her knock. He was proven wrong when Maya practically shoved her way in. Ema and Larry followed her.

"Nice place you got here," Ema observed, adjusting the pink goggles atop her head. Maya gasped as she ran to look at the piano. Phoenix hoped that she wouldn't touch it. Larry seemed oddly fixated on the television sitting on what looked like a dresser across from the couch.

"Got a pretty nice screen there," he muttered, sounding jealous. Phoenix suddenly recalled the little TV, complete with the oversized back, that sat in his and Larry's apartment. He chuckled just to try and reset Larry's dampened mood.

"Franziska's on her way," Maya said to Miles as she returned from the piano. "Iris should be with her. I told her not to bring Satan."

Miles raised an eyebrow. "Satan?"

"Dahlia," Phoenix clarified.

"That's not very nice," Miles choked in disbelief.

"Dude, she's literally the devil," Larry argued. "She's so nasty that I don't even hit on her anymore. She's hot, but she's not that hot, y'know?"

There was a long silent pause, and then Miles sighed in disappointment and Phoenix laughed at him. Just then, a very firm knock on the door, evenly timed.

"Franziska," all of Miles' guests said at once.

"Can you all do that?!" Miles sputtered. Maya winked at him, promising him without saying it aloud that she would never tell him their secret. He looked even more exasperated when he opened the door and found that it was, in fact, Franziska. Iris stood beside her and gave him a polite bow.

"What's that you've got?" Miles asked Iris, directing his gaze to the simple white cardboard box that she had wrapped in pretty fabric. She blushed and stepped past him into the room.

"For you," she said, offering the box to Larry. Everyone looked momentarily shocked, the man himself included. "As a thanks for your help earlier. Dahlia said she was feeling ill and couldn't help me move, so Larry offered his assistance," she explained, half to Larry and half to the rest of the room. Larry nodded furiously as he opened the box and seemed to stop breathing when he saw its contents. He turned to look at Phoenix.

"Dude," he screech-whispered. "She made me cookies, bro! COOKIES!"

Phoenix glanced over Larry's shoulder into the box. They were beautiful sugar cookies, made in the likeness of cherry blossoms, and decorated with little pink crystal sprinkles. Phoenix whistled.

"Fear not— I already took photographs," Franziska said, making Phoenix breathe a sigh of relief. She knew Phoenix didn't like to watch art get destroyed without it having been documented. Larry took it as invitation to wolf down a cookie. He seemed to glow at the taste.

Franziska steered the conversation before Larry could begin waxing poetic about Iris' delicate hands or eye for detail, as she just knew he would.

"Miles Edgeworth!" The man stood at attention at her sharp, commanding tone. "What do you think of your new instrument? I will have you know I supervised its movement and assembly myself. I need you to be well-practiced if I hope to soundly defeat you, after all."

"You moved it yourself?" Miles echoed. Phoenix could tell that he and Franziska really did know each other by the way he ignored and was completely unaffected by her threats. "How kind. ...Even though it will prove to be your undoing, that is."

Miles grinned, suddenly looking an awful lot like Franziska. Maya could only shudder, and she piped up to distract herself from the fearful images her mind was conjuring.

"So, Franny, how's your dorm? We didn't get a chance to stop by. How's Adrian?"

Franziska flinched.

"She's fine. Why wouldn't she be fine?!"

Maya recoiled like she had poked a snake with a stick and it had sprung up its head at her, baring its venomous fangs.

"N-No reason, I just meant that I hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her!"

"...Oh," Franziska huffed. "You'll likely see her soon enough, as you share some classes. She wanted to try her hand at calligraphy this year."

"Okay, I can't take it anymore," Phoenix finally blurted out. He looked at Miles as pleadingly as he could. "Why are we here?! What do you have for us?!"

Miles inhaled a long, shaky breath as he noticed everyone turning to look at him. He was nervously wringing his hands, and he looked back to the piano. Phoenix had noticed a sheet music book on its music rack, but just now saw the slight gap in the pages that betrayed that something else had been stuck inside. Miles wandered slowly to it as everyone followed.

"I was just going to give you the papers, but I don't have much excuse now that there's a piano in here, do I?" He muttered as he took his seat at the bench. He opened the book to a particular page and pulled out three pieces of paper, about the size of typical Hallmark cards. Phoenix took his eagerly and devoured the writing with his eyes.

As soon as he had, he felt the sudden urge to cry, or maybe do a couple of somersaults or cartwheels.

Miles' neat cursive handwriting was at the top of the page, and he'd written his own name under composer and Phoenix's under dedicated to. He had drawn out his own sheet music, and had done so shockingly neatly— did he use some kind of special ruler or stencil? How often had he scribbled notes and chords like this? It was like looking at an art piece, in a strange way. He'd named the short song To the Trio, which seemed appropriate. Maya waved Iris over, allowing her to look at the notes.

"Miles!" Maya squeaked. She was already teary-eyed. "You didn't have to do something like this!"

"I... couldn't think of any other way to thank the three of you," he admitted. "I'm already happier here than I was at Prestige, and I owe that to you."

He smiled that sweet, soft smile that he didn't show very often, and Maya urged him with her hands to go ahead, to play them their song. None of the trio could read sheet music, after all, and so they couldn't mentally piece the notes together on their own. Phoenix held his breath as Miles adjusted his fingers over the keys— he seemed significantly more nervous than the last time, probably because he was now playing them something he had written.

Phoenix braced himself, but tried to keep his expression neutral. Miles' first notes seemed a bit quiet and uncertain, and Phoenix noticed that he glanced at Franziska. A moment, and he regained his confidence. Sweet, happy notes floated from the instrument, prompting Maya to rock slowly on her feet.

As he listened, Phoenix heard a specific story— he pictured a person, quiet and wistful and lonely, who had finally found others who understood and cared for them, and had found, in this, an indescribable comfort and peace. It wasn't the sort of thing one ran about shouting from the mountaintops, but rather that let a person fall asleep without trouble or sit comfortably with another person in a silent room, neither feeling the need to say anything. Phoenix thought that this was just as good, if not better. And if he was understanding this little song, with its simple repeating melody occasionally supplemented with dramatic flourishes, correctly, it meant that Miles had found a kind of peace.

When Miles finished, he did a little bow. He looked nervous as he waited for a response, though he didn't have to wait long. Everyone, even Franziska, applauded, and Maya joined him on the bench to force him into another one of her death-grip hugs. He tried to act annoyed, but Phoenix could tell that he was happy.

"I'm gonna frame this," Larry promised, gesturing at his paper. Phoenix frowned.

"I was gonna do that!"

"We can put them all together in one frame," Maya suggested. Miles blushed very faintly at their suggestions.

Miles discussed the song with Iris and Franziska for a minute or two (while the others continued to discuss possible displays), both of whom could perhaps appreciate it more than the ones it was written for. They were also musicians, after all. Iris said something about it having an emotional simplicity, and this was a comment Miles reacted to rather well. Maya had said that he had criticized the technical and showy nature of the music at Prestige, so perhaps he avoided writing overly complex music and instead tried to focus on establishing a feeling or narrative.

If that was his goal, he had more than succeeded. Phoenix tried not to tear up or blush as he gave the man a friendly and congratulatory pat on the back.

"I didn't mean to make the two of you feel excluded, by the way," Miles said to Iris and Ema. "We've only known one another a short while, but I do hope to get to know the two of you better over these next couple of years."

"That's quite alright! I was happy enough just to hear it," Iris said, waving a hand in dismissal.

Phoenix watched as everyone else conversed and smothered Miles once again. He was noticeably more relaxed than he had been when they had first met. It seemed that he had succeeded in knocking down at least a couple of his defensive walls.

Miles blushed, an exasperated glare on his face, and ducked away reflexively as Maya tried to hug him again. Phoenix chuckled. It seemed there were still more barriers in his way, but he was determined to knock them all down.

He was sure that it would be well worth it.

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A/N: ivy u works a little strangely, huh? i imagine it's a pretty free-reign and experimental kind of school, since it's known for being an innovative home for the most creative of artists. an art credit is an art credit, as far as they're concerned, so everyone gets to try a bit of everything. that and their dorms are a little odd. i'm not gonna pretend that i have any idea how college works, though. can't afford to go. :/
i rewrote that scene on bisexuality versus pansexuality like eighteen times and it still doesn't quite match the scene in my mental anime (this is the problem with being too visual!!). BUT i'm still glad i included it, because i really wanted to include pansexual phoenix and bisexual ema! i've explored bi phoenix in another work of mine, but pan phoenix discovering himself seems cute, so i wanted to use it somewhere. :3
also, miles' song. it's an original, but when i picture the scene in my head i imagine him playing this: []. it's got just the right mood to it and gives me the kind of feeling it gives phoenix, mostly because i love the movie. <3