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Who: Heung Soo, Nam Soon and Edgeworth.
When: Sometime after the event..
Where: At the gardens.
What: Edgeworth finds out that one whining teenager and that one responsible teenager are actually best friends. Whoops?
Rating/Warning: There should be no warnings!

[ Somehow, even after the trauma of the last weird thing before the recent one, and after the chaos of everything around them from the last weird thing, Nam Soon and Heung Soo have managed to fall back into their usual pattern of existing.

Said pattern being both of them meeting up on their way home from work, stopping by one of the many food stalls, buying some hot food and taking it along with them. Because eating in that sort of crowded space isn't really always (read: usually not) their kind of thing, so instead they have found a bench in a not as crowded part of the parks right near the apartment building they live in and decided to consume their food there.

If not just since they have a little more privacy. Mostly for Heung Soo's sake since he gets so easily embarrassed - he minds messing around with his best friend a lot less when it's just the two of them in a fairly empty park. So they act like usually. They eat, letting the food warm them, they talk, they playfully bicker and poke each other with their chopsticks.. the usual deal, really.

All the way up to Nam Soon just plainly eating the food off his chopsticks the moment Heung Soo's almost brought it to his own mouth. ]

Yah! [ But even as he calls out and elbows the other in retaliation, there's still something playful about all of it..

Not really like he realises - thanks to that distraction - that someone is just passing by on their own way home, and that said person is pretty familiar. ]

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[ Heung Soo doesn't really notice Edgeworth until Nam Soon's enthusiasm suddenly seems to die down. And let's be real, he's pretty much perfect at reading Nam Soon's body language by now, and if anything screams "cat who just saw someone they don't like waltz into the room", then it's Nam Soon's expression and the way he slightly moves right now.

Hence why he pulls himself back from eating the food Nam Soon is giving him in return, instead glancing up - only to spot Edgeworth there.

Oh. Could be worse. Could be better, since Edgeworth is still an Authority Figure and all, but it's not like he's really annoying or senseless.. ]

Hello. [ Could be more formal, could be less.. he's never been good at formal speak since his usual way of speaking is so rough, so this is already him.. trying.. give him credit, okay.

Besides, he's distracted by being confused at why Nam Soon is reacting like that. Glancing between the older man and his best friend, before eyeing Nam Soon-- ]

You know each other?

[when heung soo actually greets edgeworth in a... relatively polite way, all things considered (meaning: he knows how rare it is for heung soo to pick up formal speech these days), it earns a certain sort of look from nam soon.

it's kind of a "why the hell do you know this guy?" combined with a "what has he done to earn your respect?" and further combined with "i can't even believe this bastard..." which is probably a strange range of emotions to feel over just a greeting. but nam soon is weird about these things, especially when it comes to who heung soo knows and how he interacts with them. add on the fact that he and edgeworth don't exactly have the friendliest of conversations on an everyday basis.]

...Yeah. [the one word, bare acknowledgement is all he says, near-wincing about it. he's not totally rude though at least. he does bow his head a little in edgeworth's direction, if that counts for anything at all.]

[Edgeworth nods to Heung Soo and answers calmly:]

We're acquainted, yes.

[To his credit, he does not show any signs of being offended or disgusted by, well, anything.] And I see that you both are, as well. [Perhaps they were pulled from the same world, even? That's possible.]

[ Just wait a moment, Edgeworth.. Heung Soo does catch his answer too, but he has a flurry of looks from this bastard besides him here to go through first. He really doesn't get Nam Soon's apparent dislike (not heavy, he can tell that much, but still something akin to annoyance) of the man. He seemed fairly reasonable before, and willing to work on getting them all out of here, things Heung Soo is all for..

.. so what happened here between these two? Not like he can read minds, so Nam Soon gets a half-uncertain "what are you going on about now, you bastard" look from Heung Soo before he glances at Edgeworth again. ]

I notice. [ DRYLY... that's code language for "I'm getting heavy signals from my best friend here", yes. ] But.. yeah. We know each other from back home.

[ He almost says "friends", but.. while they're obviously friends, it feels somewhat weird to use that word thanks to the whole strange evolution it's gone through.. so he just omits it entirely. But even so, it's almost as if there's something fond even in the word "know" there... They're in bastards. Or something. ]

[that fact that heung soo gives him that look to start is enough of an annoyance; sure, heung soo can't read minds, but he's usually pretty good at knowing exactly what nam soon is thinking.

and right now, that's primarily "well, this is a situation i don't really want to be in at all right now." which he continues to not say, but when heung soo chooses that wording, it earns another look from nam soon. which could be described at "subtly kicked puppy," even if nam soon gets the reasoning behind it. and the tone. it's just weird, because even when they were at each other's throats in the worst situation, heung soo had still referred to him as a friend to the adults.

so this? it's just weird. his expression isn't any more or less pleasant as he looks back and forth between the two of them, emitting a quiet, frustrated sigh.]

He's the one who goes swimming early in the morning. [also known as "the reason why nam soon is out of bed way earlier than he would like on most days."]

Hm. [Edgeworth just makes a thoughtful sound at hearing that yes, these two were from the same world. He'll just make a mental note of that. Remembering how Heung Soo sounded so incredulous upon hearing Edgeworth's otherworldly shenanigans and how exasperated he was about everything here, their world must be relatively normal. Maybe like his. ~~Oh, please, Japanifornia is a special snowflake.~~

At the mention of how he and Nam soon know each other, Edgeworth bristles, and sighs as well. Look, he's not going to change his schedule for you, brah.]

Have you considered going to bed early instead of falling asleep during your shift?

[ Listen, back then they hadn't been rolling across the floor together, okay, this is a whole new level of weird and awkward wording. So don't give him that look, since as subtle as it is, Heung Soo can totally tell it's a kicked puppy one. And he can't deal with kicked puppy looks while there's a responsible adult right there.

But at least he understands Nam Soon's words without having to ask for context. They probably already talked about it before, just.. without naming names.. hence why Heung Soo had no idea it was actually Edgeworth all along. ]

It's him? [ So yes, he's a little surprised...

.. although less so when the older man speaks up. Yeah, sleeping on the job sounds exactly like Nam Soon. 100%. And so he can't even really hold himself back as the words already tumble out of his mouth-- ]

Even if this bastard went to bed at dinner time, he'd still sleep during his shifts. [ Saying it pretty calmly. (Oddly fondly, too, if you listen well enough.)

Also fishing some food out of what's clearly Nam Soon's portion of their food and putting it in his own mouth.

Listen, if you two are going to make this conversation less responsible and more silly, he's not going to sit here and be the only stiff one, okay. ]

Yah...

[he grumbles that protest in heung soo's direction... which probably isn't helping the kicked puppy situation, but it's clear that there's something about heung soo teasing him like that here and now in front of edgeworth that picks at his comfort levels a bit.

he nudges at heung soo a little before picking up a plastic spoon from his tray, scooping up some rice... and shoving it straight into his friend's mouth.]

Watch what you say sometimes, you annoying bastard. [which he says, but really, it's more playful exasperation than any actual annoyance. he's more embarrassed about it than anything else. he may have been super honest with their teachers about how much he used school to eat and sleep, but he has to deal with edgeworth through work. it's different. wincing a little, he ruffles his hair a bit and looks back to edgeworth.]

I didn't realize. That you knew each other, I mean. [staying off the subject of work is probably for the better of all three of them right now.]

[Wow, Heung Soo. Wow. Way to stick up for your bro. But Edgeworth doesn't dwell on that much because it's none of his business.

He shrugs and says to Nam Soon:]

I've run into him a couple of times, yes. [Which is enough for him to remember Heung Soo's face, name, and general impression.] But we run into each other more often, do we not? [As long as you stick to your exercise routine from your CRAU days, Edgeworth, yes.]

[ Yeah, Heung Soo over here is temporarily taken out of commission, conversation-wise.. it's just hard to join in when you've got an entire mouth full of rice shoved in courtesy of your best friend, okay. At least he doesn't really seem annoyed by it since this is common fare between the two of them - instead he just calmly starts to chew it down as the other two speak before he joins the conversation again. ]

You've ever had to pull him out of the water? [ A question with a glance at Nam Soon - hey, you're supposed to be the dashing lifeguard here, okay. This story can't be so boring that it's literally just Edgeworth swimming early and his best friend being annoyed by it.. ]

Don't know how much you run into him. So... I guess.

[nam soon finds himself shrugging a little at edgeworth. how is he even supposed to know that? considering he didn't even know they'd met at all (which is still weird, to think that they both have groups of separate acquaintances? what is this?), he can't really know how often they've met.

but whatever. this is awkward, though maybe mildly less so than his normal conversations with edgeworth, it's a little more bearable in terms of frustration, but there's still something plenty weird about it to him. the thought is lost pretty quickly when heung soo asks that question.

because seriously? seriously, you bastard? he looks at his friend for a second, then to edgeworth again.]

This bastard's pretty insulting when he wants to be. Just ignore him. [granted, he says that more to piss heung soo off than anything else, but nam soon doesn't really think edgeworth looks that incapable. the pool is hardly that dangerous, even for an inexperienced swimmer.]

[Edgeworth raises an eyebrow at Heung Soo. No, this story IS really that boring because Edgeworth is neither reckless nor ignorant, and is a surprisingly decent swimmer. If he would ignore basic water safety he'd say that he could handle being without a lifeguard, but obviously you need at least one more pair of eyes in case of an emergency.

It's okay, Nam Soon. Edgeworth is totally ignoring your pal.]

I never pegged him as the sort, but I guess one learns new things everyday.

[ Excuse him?! Now he's the one being slandered in front of a responsible adult, wow. He probably should have expected Nam Soon to turn the tables on him, but on the other hand, he still somehow wasn't prepared for it.. so Heung Soo quickly glances between the two, as if he's carefully trying to think of what to say here.

(He's not so good with the whole "carefully saying things" thing and he knows it.)

Hence why an agitated sound instead comes out. ]

Yah! [ He's slightly embarrassed, though, more than actually angry. He was at least trying to keep his reputation decent here. ] You're a lifeguard, isn't that a normal assumption?

[ Heung Soo's never been to said pool, after all, since physical activities still sort of Bother him. He doesn't know it's not that bad... ]

Aish...

Aigoo, aigoo, aigoo... is it right to assume that people are drowning? You know I don't have to do much there.

[and that it's boring as hell. and that he hates getting up at the crack of dawn to do it. really, his own oddly solid sense of responsibility when it comes to paid work is the only reason he hasn't taken the same job heung soo has—the very same kind of job he did part-time back in seoul.

he's kind of having fun being an ass and teasing heung soo this way, though. it's kind of like payback for past times when heung soo hurt his pride in front of adults (even if it was more warranted back then).]

He's a good guy, though. His mouth's just a little dumb sometimes. [he can't really insult heung soo for that long though, and he doesn't really want people getting the wrong impression of him.] It's usually his face that causes all the problems, anyway.

[since it's so threatening-looking and all.]

[Nam Soon has a point. But Edgeworth already knew that Nam Soon did have his moments when he had a point and wasn't just being lazy.

At the remark about Heung Soo's face, Edgeworth can't help it; he gives the slightest sliver of an amused grin. He sometimes wanted to tell Larry Butz that his sniveling face caused so many problems, or tell Phoenix Wright that his bluffing face did the same. Just...in more refined words.

So, in reply to Nam Soon:]

Yes, he is. Thankfully I haven't had the occasion to disagree with him regarding his face.

[Look, prosecutors can be funny too, okay?]

[ Why are all these jokes happening at his expense, though.. when did these tables start to flip, he didn't even notice until it's too late and now he's got both of them making jokes against him. Rude, much. (Even if Heung Soo started it just now, technically, so this is just karma coming for his ass.)

So he lets out an annoyed (aissh..) kind of sound as he mostly glances at Nam Soon as to not fully ruin his impression with Edgeworth, and he turns away from the other a little.

This is how they get along, okay.. ]

I was born this way. I can't help it.

[ Re: his face, he means. And Heung Soo is also quickly stuffing some more food into his own face to at least seem like he's doing something here other than trying to vaguely cover up his embarrassment with exasperation. ]

[nam soon can't help it—he gets so few opportunities to tease heung soo like this—well, not in front of other people, at least. it's probably a little strange, since nam soon himself isn't terribly comfortable with edgeworth either...

but this is more his natural habitat that work; anywhere that his best friend is makes nam soon instantly a lot more comfortable and playful. maybe he just likes being able to embarrass heung soo a little, though it definitely paints the gap between them and... people who are better at being adults than them.]

Ohh, that's our Heung Soo-yah. [he teases a little more, ruffling heung soo's hair in a total reversal of how this normally goes. he's having fun with it. he'll look back up to edgeworth, and he's trying to hold back a bit of laughter (a rarity in itself, but definitely even more so for the kid who usually remains stone-faced at work).] Treat him well when you see him. His face scares off a lot of people.

[Edgeworth maintains a straight face despite the discussion having shifted to...well, this.]

I see no reason why I shouldn't. [He gives Heung Soo a glance.] I've seen more intimidating faces than yours. [Look, even Edgeworth himself will admit that he is most likely more intimidating than you, Heung Soo.]

[ This is already embarrassing enough when it happens in private.. when it's with another person like this, it's absolutely the worst. Especially the hair ruffles.. god, he's going to get Nam Soon back for this one later, one way or another.

But for now he has a reputation to save. ]

See? [ Glancing at Nam Soon after that answer, tilting his head a little in Edgeworth's direction as if to say "at least he knows better, you bastard."

.. then again, he knows Edgeworth deals with criminals and the like. Of course he's seen more intimidating faces than Heung Soo's.. even though he's technically a criminal on probation too and all. ]

Maybe it's just that you both take things a little too seriously.

[listen, okay. strangely enough, this is nam soon's way of helping, because he knows that heung soo doesn't always have the best of luck making acquaintances, and that his dealings with adults can be pretty dicey because he's so rough around the edges.

...granted, nam soon isn't exactly the person most qualified for this. he's not really much better—he gets in trouble directly with adults less, but his temper is worse and he's a much more threatening person than heung soo when something hits his bad or protective side. it's not even like he'd normally joke with edgeworth, either...

it's only because heung soo is there, and despite his own discomfort with things, he wants his best friend to be able to get along with people. even the people he doesn't get along with the best himself. it's kind of a weird and circular way of handling things, but maybe that just goes to prove that he's bad at dealing with things and people.]

I also see no reason to take things seriously when they should be.

[Actually, Edgeworth doesn't see it as an insult, that he takes things too seriously.]

And it's true that I've dealt with far more intimidating people. [You didn't need to tell them that, Edgeworth.]

Yeah, you bastard.

[ Despite the way of calling him though - it's normal to them, but it's not like other people know - there's something strangely affectionate in the middle of all the light tsun going on here, and it manifests in the way Heung Soo bumps his shoulder a little against the other guy's. He's way too used to this banter to take it too personally anyway, and at least this doesn't make him look totally weird in front of Edgeworth. ]

Don't blame people who can be responsible adults. [ Responsible adult certainly isn't Nam Soon's middle name, after all.. although he can be responsible enough in his own ways, and he's come a long way in that - Heung Soo could know.

But it's better for the banter to pull this to a "shush, the adults are speaking" kind of level. ]

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