boxolawyers | [RL] It was only a matter of time

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Current Location: Los Angeles, CA

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[RL] It was only a matter of time

Who: Edgeworth, the Corinthian (II)
What: A celebration is interrupted by an old favorite virus.
Where: Edgeworth's apartment
When: Mid-evening
Warnings: None

Sieghard was waiting by the door long before the jangling of keys preceded their entrance into the apartment. Edgeworth greeted the dog with a few gentle pats, leading him out of the doorway to allow their guest room to enter.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked, for once mindful of his duties as host. "There should still be a few beers left from the last time you were here."

Sieghard moved on to the Corinthian, planting himself at the nightmare's side and sniffing curiously at his hand before greeting him with a lick.

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Edgeworth was finding it similarly difficult to immerse himself in the film again. The dark lenses may have hid the Corinthian's 'eyes,' but Edgeworth still imagined he could sense the man's disinterest. He had a feeling of being watched, too. That was almost certainly his own projection, but real or not it was also highly distracting.

As the film neared its climax, Edgeworth found himself growing increasingly frustrated with his inability to recapture his own interest in it. Not wanting to waste the ending, he paused the disc again at the first convenient lull. Perhaps another break might help him to clear his mind.

"Can I get you anything while I'm up?"

The frustration wasn't a hard thing to catch, and the nightmare felt that much more irritated with his own behavior. This was supposed to be a nice evening out with a friend, not....whatever it was turning into.

He glanced down at his now empty bottle at the offer, but he shook his head, set it aside. "No. But thanks anyway."

After a short pause, in which he watched his friend's reaction, Edgeworth gave him a curt nod. Rising gracefully to his feet, he moved across the room and disappeared into the dark hallway. A few moments later, there came the muffled sound of the door to the guest bathroom shutting.

Sigi, who'd watched his master go, seemed to take the sound as a cue. With his tail already beginning to wag, he whipped his head around and nuzzled the Corinthian's hand, giving it a wet lick for good measure.

Ugh. Dog drool. That brought the nightmare out of his thoughts rather quickly, and with a small annoyed frown he wiped his hand clean on his jeans.

"I'm starting to get the feeling this wasn't such a good idea, bud," he muttered, reaching for Sigi's ears mostly in an attempt to stop the dog from slobbering on him further. "So much for a nice night out with him...."

If Sigi understood his tone or body language, he gave no sigh. The dog leaned into his grip, his mouth hanging open in a canine grin as he looked up at the nightmare with half-lidded eyes and drank in the attention.

It wasn't until they heard the toilet flush that the dog moved again, lifting his head to stare at the door to the hall. There was a hissing sound, followed by the brief rush of running water, and Sieghard abandoned his temporary companion just in time to meet Edgeworth at the door to the foyer.

Edgeworth smiled down at the dog and scratched his shaggy mane, then went to refill his wine before taking his seat again.

"Sorry," he said, finally looking at the Corinthian again. "Am I keeping you from something? If you need to leave...we can always finish this some other time." There was a question underneath the question, an unspoken request for an explanation (or perhaps simply reassurance that nothing was really wrong).

"I don't want to leave." And again. It slipped out fast, but this time he corrected himself just as quickly, shook his head in growing exasperation. This was going to get old very quick, he could tell. "I mean, no, you're not keeping me from anything. I don't know what the hell's wrong with me today...."

This time, however, the thoughts that wanted to follow were cut off before they could get that far. And he sat in silence for a few moments, collected himself, regained his composure before he finally looked up at Edgeworth. He looked apologetic. "I'm sorry about this."

Edgeworth watched the outburst silently, the furrow in his brow deepening with every word. Something was wrong, that much was obvious, but what it could be was beyond him. Surely the few awkward moments they'd experienced that evening couldn't have built into this.

As the Corinthian got himself under control, Edgeworth struggled to do the same. The effort wasn't entirely successful. He couldn't completely wipe the worry from his features, but at least his voice was steady when he spoke.

"There's no need to be." He hesitated, unsure of how far he should take this. The nightmare was rarely open to offers of aid. "Corinthian, if something's wrong..."

He shook his head again, stopping Edgeworth right there, but it was still longer before he replied, taking time to think about his answer.

"Whatever it is, I'll be fine." Maybe save some bits of his pride, but he had more than enough to make up for the loss, he was sure. "....I think I'm just tired. We can still finish the movie, at least. If you want to." It would be a shame to just leave before it ended, especially when it looked like Edgeworth had actually been rather into it. And he really didn't want to leave....

The rejection was expected, and with such a clear sign that the matter wasn't to be discussed any longer, Edgeworth couldn't do anything but comply. At least not until he had more of a reason to believe he should involve himself.

"If you don't mind." He nodded, retrieving the remote once again. "This isn't the sort of film you can abandon before the climax."

And it was only because of the lack of prying that the Corinthian still stayed at all. He rarely asked questions himself, and Edgeworth repaid it in kind. All he needed to do was be a little careful about choosing his words....

"Exactly," he said, giving a small grin, an attempt to ease the mood again. He only hoped it didn't look as plastic as it felt right now. "Besides that, I spent a lot of time looking for this one, so I can't leave until you've suffered through the whole thing."

It wasn't an entirely convincing smile, but Edgeworth was willing to overlook that for the sake of the evening the Corinthian was clearly trying to recapture. He gave a smirk in response.

"If suffering is required, I'm afraid you may not be leaving after all. So far I've enjoyed myself."

"Have you? Sounds like I might not have to sit through another snore-fest next time after all." There it was, just a little bit of teasing pride leaking into his voice.

It's a welcome sound, something Edgeworth is happy to return in kind.

"Don't get too far ahead of yourself, Corinthian. Movies often succeed or fail based solely on the strength of their endings. You aren't safe just yet."

"I don't know," he said with a careless shrug. "I'm feeling pretty confident. But let's start it up and see, then."

"Let's."

The tension hadn't quite dissipated, but it had eased enough for Edgeworth to be able to fall back into the film without much effort. Once the movie was playing, he kept his eyes fixed on it until the very end. As the credits rolled he slowly leaned forward, picked up his glass, and tossed his head back to down what was left in it.

"Well well..." He turned to his companion, a smirk on his lips and his eyebrow cocked. "Corinthian, I believe you've finally managed to exonerate yourself."

By the time the credits began he had already looked over at Edgeworth expectantly, waiting on whatever commentary was to come next. But it looked like he hadn't had anything to worry about after all.

"You really are damn difficult man to please, anyone ever tell you that?" His own smirk widened, just slightly, and he chuckled as he looked away. "I'm glad you liked it, though. It's been one of my favorites."

"Actually, despite appearances I'm not so difficult to please. I demand of others only what I'd demand of myself." The feigned loftiness of his tone hinted at what was coming.

"...Perfection."

His amusement was clear in the way he narrowed his eyes as he said it. Then his expression softened into a small but pleased smile. "But I'll readily admit that this time you delivered. It was an extremely well-crafted film. I can see why it would be a favorite."

"I don't know. Perfection might be a bit hard, but if it'll make you happy...." Well....honestly, it might be worth a try, however badly it would fail on his end. He shook his head, still grinning.

"I told you before I wasn't all pointless gore, didn't I?"

"You did. And after all this time you've finally managed to prove it," he said, the smirk returning. He took a sip of wine before giving his companion a curious look. "Are you really so concerned with making me happy?"

"Should I not be?" It was a genuinely curious question, though the grin never quite left his face as he turned to look over at Edgeworth in return. He would have kept up the banter; in fact, that's what he'd been aiming to do.

But....

"As long as you're happy, so am I."

He should have brushed it off. He should have kept his voice steady and calm and made some flippant comment to the effect that the Corinthian should enjoy the films he enjoys regardless of what Edgeworth thinks of them.

Instead, his brows furrowed, and he hesitantly replied, "Corinthian...?"

That....wasn't an expected response to their usual good natured teasing, and the Corinthian's grin quickly faded as well, replaced with confusion. Did he say something....

There was a pause, brief but tense, and then he swore, quietly, grabbed his jacket off the armrest and stood. He shouldn't have said that. He didn't know why he said it. He had kept his feelings to himself very well before, why was he now--

"Thanks for dinner." The leather was shrugged on in one quick motion as he headed for the door, not looking up. "I'll talk to you later."

The nightmare's reaction confirmed his fears that he hadn't misread the comment. Something twisted uncomfortably in his stomach, but he stood almost as quickly as the Corinthian did, stepping over his startled dog to head the nightmare off before he could reach the front door.

"What did you mean, Corinthian?" he demanded, the furrow in his brow deepening.

It would have been too easy to just brush the other man aside and continue out the door, but he held himself back, fists clenching at his sides instead. But he only looked at him with a flat expression.

"Edgeworth, you need to move."

Edgeworth cocked an eyebrow at that, but made no move to let him pass.

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