Well, not explicitly shippy, but it's soo cute

September 9th, 2017
Phoenix

“Nick….Time to wake up…NICK!”
“OBJECTION!” I yell, startled from my dream.
“Overruled.” Maya says, excited.
“Maya? What are you doing in my room?”
“Waking you up, obviously. Now come on sleepyhead, I made you breakfast.”
Maya made me breakfast? I think I just went from one dream to another. I reluctantly get up, not exactly sure what’s going on, but as soon as I reach the kitchen, I see that if anything, this is a nightmare. Food is spread across the counter, or at least it was food before Maya reached it. My head begins aching.
“What…” I begin to talk, but I get too stressed out to finish the sentence.
Maya looks away quickly, and begins to explain. “Well, at first I wanted to make you pancakes, but then I realized that we didn’t have any syrup, so I decided not to…and then I wanted to make some fried eggs, but they didn’t turn out right…”
I resist the urge to tell her that she’s not supposed to leave the shells on when she’s making fried eggs, and respond with “I see.”
“And then I tried to make some toast, but I sort of burnt it, so I got you some cereal… I’m sorry Nick, I didn’t mean to mess up the kitchen.” Her eyes begin to tear up.

I pull Maya into a hug and kiss her forehead gently, and notice her cheeks go slightly pink. “It’s OK, I appreciate the effort. I think I’m getting I’m getting a migraine looking at it though, so what do you say we go out for breakfast?”
“Yeah! Can we grab some burgers?”
“What? Why in the world would you want burgers for breakfast?”
“It’s a tradition, Nick!” Maya says, pulling away. “Back in Kurain Village, we have burgers for breakfast all the time!” A sly grin begins to form around her lips.
“You’re totally making that up.” I say, not being fooled by Maya’s crazy excuse.
“Oh yeah? Where’s your evidence?” Maya says, pouting her cheeks. I’m not in the mood to argue with her over something so trivial, so I give in.
“Ok, if the burger place is open, we’ll go there. But if it’s not, I choose where we eat, deal?”
“Deal! Come on, we’ve got to beat the rush!”
“I honestly doubt many people would be lining up to eat burgers at 9 AM…”
---
Much to my dismay, the burger shop is actually open, and I’m forced to buy burgers for breakfast. When we arrive back at the office, I make a mental note to never take Maya out for breakfast again. Or lunch for that matter. Or dinner. I think that I’ve put on at least 10 pounds since Maya became my assistant…

“Thanks again for the burgers Nick!” Maya says as cheerful as ever, and then stretches out on the couch and begins to flip through the channels.
You know, Maya has really nice legs…Wait, what? I shake the thought out of my head ands decide to finish off my paperwork of the Bryde case. When I finished, it occurs to me I never asked why Maya tried to make breakfast, and ruined the kitchen in the process. Even though Maya doesn’t usually have a reason for the random things she does, I decide to ask her anyways.
“Uh, Maya?”
“If it’s about the toilet, today’s your turn, remember?”
“No, it’s not that, I was just wondering why you went through all the trouble of making me breakfast this morning…”
“Oh! Hold that thought!” Maya runs off into her bedroom, and comes back with a gift.
“Happy Anniversary, Nick!” She announces, holding out the present.
“Uh, what?” I answer reluctantly. “We’re not…we’re not married…”
Maya blushes. “You silly goose, I didn’t mean it like that! It’s been a year since I became your assistant today!”
“O-oh!” I say, feeling very stupid. “I’m sorry Maya, I completely forgot, I guess I was busy with the last case and it just slipped my mind.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s probably not that big of a deal for you, I just…well, I don’t know what I’d be doing right now if it weren’t for you.” Maya hands me the present and looks away, a bit shy. I take off the wrapping and find a frame, with a picture of Maya and I posing with the Steel Samurai, really Will Powers in his costume a few weeks before the Steel Samurai ended. I remember Maya promised she’d make Will pay less if she got a picture with him as the Steel Samurai and he autographed it, and pushy as she is, she made me get in the picture too. I stifle back a few tears; I wasn’t expecting anything like this.

“D-do you like it?” Maya asks. For the second time that day, I hug Maya again, simply because I can’t find words to describe how I feel.
“I’m going to take that as a yes.” Maya says, hugging me back.
“Maya, I’m really sorry I forgot.”
“Nick, it’s OK-”
“No, it’s not.” I interrupt. “You mean a lot to me too, and I should show it. Tell you what, let’s go rent a bunch of Samurai movies, make some popcorn, and have a movie marathon.”
“OK, but you don’t have to…”
“I want to.”
---
“I will defeat you, Samurai of the Undead!”
“I think not, Bronze Samurai!”
“Hiyaaaaaah!”
“How will this epic story end? Be prepared for The Bronze Samurai 2, coming November 7th, 2017!”

“Wow, I’ve seen that movie 7 times, but it just gets better every time I watch it.” Maya says.
“Yeah…I guess it wasn’t that bad.” And having my arm around Maya the whole time wasn’t too bad either.
“Does that mean that you’ll take me to see the second one when it comes out?”
“Sure…It’s a date.” I say, only afterwards realizing how weird that sounded.
Maya kisses me on the cheek quickly.
“Y-you must really want to see the movie.” I stutter, trying to not sound like a complete idiot.
“It wasn’t for that, it’s just that, well, you’ve done so much for me, and I don’t really think I’d be able to manage if you weren’t always looking out for me.”
“I don’t think I’d be where I am now if it weren’t for you, either.”
“Really?” Maya says, looking up at me. I begin to notice how close our faces are to each other. Maya begins to move closer.
Oh my God, she’s going to kiss me. I didn’t know she even liked me like that! Should I kiss her first? How far are we going to go? Am I being punked?
Being the total wimp I am, I completely snap under pressure and get up.
“Uh…I have to go to the bathroom!”
Maya looks at me, disappointed, and then turns away. For a moment I want to blurt out that I love her, but I don’t have the confidence.

I head to the bathroom and wash my face, trying to calm my nerves, and then I head back over to the couch, but Maya’s already gone to bed. Feeling depressed, I sit down on the couch and turn on the TV, looking at what’s on the news.
Way to go Phoenix, you completely blew it. You get one chance to get with Maya, but you ‘have to go to the washroom.’ Honestly? You’re pretty pathetic.
Well, at least I know she likes me now, right?
Who knows, maybe she saw how much of a wuss you are and decided she was over you.
Shut up! I’ve got to be positive. I really want to kiss her…
Well then go and do it! It might not be too late.
I get off the couch and head upstairs, and peek inside Maya’s room. Her eyes are closed, she’s probably sleeping. Part of me wants to leave her alone, but the other part of me’s really desperate…
I run up really quickly, kiss her on the lips, and run out. Even though she’ll never know, I’ve got the satisfaction of knowing that I did kiss Maya Fey tonight.
---
Maya

What’s wrong with me? Did I come on too strong? Does he even like me? Aagh! Nick and I were having such a great time, and then I had to go and blow it. Nice going, Maya.
I think I hear my door open, but I’m too depressed to move an inch. Suddenly, somebody runs up to me and kisses me on the lips, then runs out before I get a chance to react. Outside, I think I can hear Nick sigh. I open my eyes and sit up.
“Nick?” I call out weakly, but he’s already left and he can’t hear me. Too tired to get out of bed, I lie down in my bed and let out a content sigh.
He kissed me. Phoenix Wright just kissed me. Maya Fey. On the lips. He likes me! I so have to tell Pearl about this.
My last thoughts are of kissing Nick again, and feeling his lips pressed against mine once more. I feel myself drift off to blissful sleep, and as if he can hear me, I whisper, “I love you too.”

Now, in 3-2 Nick says to Maya that earl has the wrong idea about them, and in 3-5 he doesn't deny it when Iris (really Dahlia, but whatever) claims that Maya was Nick's girlfriend, which means something probably happened inbetween those times which makes Nick want Maya to be his girlfriend, or consider her to possibly be one. Also taking into account how Nick sees Maya in a different way in 3-3 (when she dreses up as a waitress), it's my belief that something happened after 3-3 which although isn't something as huge them beginning to date (because Maya teases Nick about Iris in 3-5) is something that would make Nick open to the idea of Maya and him dating, for example Nick and Maya exchanging a brief kiss. Does that make any sense?