Work Text:
Feb, 13, 2001
Phoenix’s class had made Valentine's mailboxes as a class project. Tall boxes wrapped in tissue paper with a hole cut into the top, with their names printed on them in foam bubble letters. They also got to decorate them with whatever they wanted, which was awesome!
The boxes have been up for people to put Valentines into since last week, but Phoenix kept forgetting to bring the set with lollipops attached that he had. He finally remembered to bring them today, which is lucky because today is the last day before Valentine's day, which is when the mailboxes get opened.
The final bell had just rung, which means it's the perfect chance for him, and the few other kids who put it off till the last day for various reasons, to sneak their Valentines into the mailboxes. Phoenix starts to work through the Valentines he has for all his classmates, until he's left with two.
There's Larry’s, which he knew would be something he would like as soon as he saw it. He drops it in his mailbox. Finally, there's the best one, which he had, of course, saved for Miles. On it, he had written this:
He drops it in his mailbox, and skips his way out of the school. He couldn't wait to see Miles’s reaction when he got it tomorrow!
Feb, 14, 2026
Miles signs his final piece of paperwork, puts it in his outtake box, then stretches and checks the time. Good, he’ll likely make it back before Trucy wakes up. Because of the complicated trial that just finished yesterday, he had had to come in early in the morning to finish the trial paperwork. (Phoenix still teased him about working early on a Saturday, the ridiculous man.) He made sure he has the rest of the day off to spend with Phoenix and Trucy, but there's one last thing he needs to do before he leaves.
He reaches down and opens his bottom desk drawer. In it, he pulls out a box of the chocolates he had secretly hidden there. They're not just any chocolates though, they're specifically the kind that Phoenix and Trucy had enjoyed the last time they had helped him with a case in Europe.
He needs a note to go with them, so he looks through his desk to find a piece of stationary without his job title, a court emblem, or the LA Prosecutor’s Office on it, and writes one.
He hopes they'll enjoy the chocolate, but with all of them off work and school for once, he's more looking forward to the day they'll get to spend together. He hopes they're looking forward to it too. He smiles, thinking about it, as he cleans up his things, and walks out of his office door, chocolate and note in hand.