Truth Games

Notes: Kink meme request for Apollo stuck in a Never Have I Ever game and due to his abilities being able to spot how everyone is lying. I kinda forgot the part where he was supposed to be ferreting out all the secrets a bit more.

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Apollo wasn't much for drinking games. Drinking was fine, and games were fine too, but when they were put together -–especially at a party–- he just ended up getting flashbacks to every party he'd gone to in high school. A house filled with teenagers who thought they were being daring by taking sips of someone's parent's whiskey and using it as an excuse to act dumb.

It also didn't help that the first drinking game everyone seemed to turn to was the same one without fail.

"Never have I ever!" Athena paused and seemed to mull it over a bit before continuing in the same vein they had been going for a while now. "Had sex at a crime scene!"

No one touched their cups, and this was where the usual drinking game got more annoying. For Apollo at least. He bit his lip hard on the objection that wanted to slip out as he looked around the room and spotted the different tells. Ema and Gavin were both lying. He could see the way the tension in Gavin's effortless smile ratcheted up, and the way Ema's left foot had taken to tapping away almost soundlessly at the floor. He hoped they hadn't contaminated any evidence with that stunt.

God, he thought with sudden clarity he really didn't want, he hoped they hadn't done it together. Though that might explain a few things about the new tension between two of them now that he thought about it.

This was why he hated drinking games. Especially this one which was made to pull all sorts of embarrassing secrets out of people, but only when they eventually got too drunk to lie. People always lied. Maybe that's why he'd never liked it before. Apollo can't remember if he'd perceived any lies back then, but he might have been aware of it enough to feel uncomfortable.

"Oh, is it my turn?" Maya Fey beamed at them all, but her lips were twisted up in a devious smirk. Apollo felt uneasy once again when the round rolled to her. He only met her a few weeks ago, but that meeting was enough for him to feel wary when it was obvious she had some sort of plan in motion. "Never, have I ever been in love with someone in this room."

For a moment no one moved. Stunned a little at the question which deviated from the sexual ones the rest of the group had taken. Gavin recovered first with a sigh that was theatrical as he picked up his cup, "Ah, who could resist that siren call with such beautiful company?"

Which wasn't exactly revealing or a lie, but there was enough tension there that Apollo knew the man was unsure about his own words. Ema pointedly turned her nose up and ignored both her cup and the room at large, but the extra loud crunching as she compulsively demolished a bag of snackoos was more than clear enough even without Apollo's bracelet. Athena laughed through her own drink, and the tension from across the room nearly shot through the roof.

Apollo winced and rubbed at his arm before glancing at the fully occupied couch. Blackquill had, unsurprisingly, refused to be roped into the childish game, but remained for some 'unfathomable' reason. One that began with A and ended with -thena. Not very surprising to anyone who had actual eyes.

Less understandable was the Chief Prosecutor's presence. Miles Edgeworth had steadily worked his way through a briefcase filled with paperwork the whole night. Barely saying anything to anyone, but still sticking around. The man hadn't reacted at all with more than a distasteful grimace when the game, inevitably, turned sexual. Now though he was fairly projecting discomfort. Which partially answered the vague question as to why the man was still there since he clearly wanted to be somewhere else.

"Hey, that's not fair Maya," Phoenix slumped down lazily, and for a minute Apollo almost thought he was wearing his old sweater and beanie again. "What kind of love are we talking about here anyway? Romantic, sexual, friendly, familial? There's a lot of different kinds of love out there."

The man's own cup was untouched and despite his question for clarity Apollo's ability screamed Lie, lie, lie!

"Don't be silly, I said in love with," Maya huffed and turned on Phoenix. If she were any closer she'd probably try to hit him in frustration. "Of course I meant romantically! But if that's too complicated for you…."

Maya trailed off and there was nothing but terrible, horrible ideas in her face as she glanced around. Her smile getting bigger by the second. The tension in the room didn't go down one bit. If anything it only ratcheted up. This was hell. Apollo had thought he'd been there once or twice before but he'd obviously been wrong. This was it. Being locked in a room with a bunch of lying people playing a game about truth.

"Hey, no," Phoenix lost his slouch in a second, and something a little like alarm started to show on his face as Maya turned suddenly and shoved a finger out in a clear imitation of the man. "Maya-"

"Never!" Maya exclaimed triumphantly, cutting him off and nearly deafening the whole room. "Have I ever been in love with the person to the left of me! In any sense of the word."

Snackoos immediately started pelting Maya left and right, and Apollo lurched back to avoid the rebound. No one could really best Ema when it came to throwing lightweight snacks with welting force. "What's that supposed to mean!? I don't-! I'd never- Where's your supporting evidence for these baseless accusations!"

To Ema's left, Gavin flinched and brought one arm up to shield his face. Mouth opening in a protest quickly drowned out by Ema's continued shouting and both Athena and Maya's laughter. Not that Apollo could concentrate on that argument with the way his bracelet seemed to be trying to cut off all circulation in his arm. "Mr. Wright?"

"I knew this game was a bad idea," Phoenix smiled and it's a little lopsided. There was a flush on his face that wasn't from the amount of drinks he'd taken. He raised up his glass slightly in a salute, and Apollo could see the very fine tremors in the man's hand as he knocked back the whole thing.

It took an embarrassingly long time for Apollo to catch onto the significance of that, and then a little more to reconfirm that he was sitting to the left of Phoenix. "Wait, what!?"

Teasing. The man had to only be teasing him, but none of the tics he saw screamed lies to him.

"Hey, Polly," a hand nudged him hard enough to nearly make him jump as he gaped stupidly at Phoenix. Athena's pout was exaggerated and barely visible through the laughter that still spilled out of her every few seconds. "You're not going to drink?"

"No," Apollo flinched back as she continued to poke and prod at him. "What? Why would I drink to that question?"

"So mean! Fine then," Athena held up a finger and declared her own challenge. To Apollo and Phoenix since Ema's targets had taken refuge behind the couch. Or Gavin had taken the couch, Maya was apparently using Edgeworth as a shield much to his chagrin. "Never have I ever been totally and helplessly in love with the person sitting to the right of me!"

"What!? No!" Apollo denied on instinct alone as he leaned back and away from Athena's pointing finger. Stopped only when he ran up against the solid bulk of Phoenix. Who was to his right. "I mean…."

"I think that is more than enough Cykes-dono," Blackquill interposed himself easily between Apollo and Athena to push down her hand.

"Aw, Simon!" Athena protested and Apollo finally noticed the high color on her cheeks. A flush gained from drinking too much though. "Now I have to drink too."

"Drink! Drink!" Widget happily declared and even the robot sounded slurred.

Blackquill's complexion did him no favors as he firmly took the glass from Athena and helped her to her feet. It would be worrying how red the prosecutor could get if Apollo could worry about anything else other than the arm that slid around his shoulder to hold a glass up in front of his face.

"Well, are you going to drink?" Phoenix asked. The only sign of his nervousness manifested in the way his arm was tense around Apollo as he tilted his own glass left and right. Otherwise the man did a fairly good job of pretending the answer didn't matter.

It did though, and to more than just Phoenix. Apollo wasn't going to even try pretending he didn't already know the answer to the question. Besides, while everyone else might have no problems with lying their way through drinking games Apollo like to think he had some morals.

"Of course I am, but it wasn't even her turn," Apollo said as he took the glass. He took a healthy drink and nearly choked as he identified what it was Phoenix had been drinking all night. "Is this apple juice?"

"Yeah," Phoenix grinned and left his arm right where it was. Somehow sliding closer to Apollo without disturbing the seats they were on. "Don't you know that playing a game like this with real drinks is a recipe for disaster?"

From the couch there was an ominous sounding crack and a yelp. Apollo didn't even want to look, and neither did Phoenix going by his wince. "You sure about that?"

"Well now that we're not playing I'm actually hungry," Phoenix eventually did turn his head and looked like he regretted it. "You know I was thinking about asking if you'd like to go out and get something but I don't think I'm going to be able to afford take out for a few weeks now."

"That's fine," Apollo answered and stood up. The floor was steady enough under his feet. He was tipsy, but his life had been far tamer than his friends' lives. "I'll pay and choose. I refuse to eat another bowl of noodles for the rest of the week."

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