Hey guys and happy JustiCykes day! I've written a collection of JustiCykes fics that are snapshots in their lives, little moments that turned big. They can all be read as their own stories, but there is a loose connection between each. I hope you enjoy them.
"Apollo, don't freak out, but I'm in the detention center."
"Athena, you're on a case, of course you're at the detention center. Stop starting all your phone calls like that," Apollo said, leaning back in his chair at the Wright Anything Agency.
"I thought I really had you that time. Maybe next time I should bring Trucy along and have her be the one to call you?" Athena's voice sounded thoughtful on the other end of the line and Apollo was worried she was serious.
"Don't, Trucy would go along with it you know," He said tilting the chair back as he talked, balancing it on one leg while he lightly bounced the seat back and forth with his foot resting on the desk.
If Phoenix or Trucy spotted him like this he knew he'd get an earful about taking care of office property and if he fell the medical costs were on him, but there was little else to do while he waited for Athena to get to her point, she was still going on about the ways she might be able to trick him.
He smiled at a particularly crazy suggestion, at the same time his foot slipped and his stomach lurched as the chair tugged him backward slamming into the ground.
"Ah-ahhhh! Owww!" his shout fell in time with the chair's crashing sending the phone flying out of his hand.
He scrambled to stand and retrieve the phone, because who knew what Athena was thinking right now, but one of his feet got stuck on the armrest and in his hurry he tripped forward again, twisting his ankle painfully. Irritated he yanked his foot away, but when he went to step on it the pressure was too much and it gave out, sending him back to the ground with another yelp.
He pulled his hurt foot towards him and poked at it gingerly, hissing with pain and irritation when he found the tender spot indicating what was probably a sprain. He cast his eyes around the room for his phone spotting it resting by Charlie.
Bracing himself with the desk he pulled himself into a standing position, careful to avoid putting pressure on his injured foot and hopped over to the plant before scooping up the phone in one exasperated motion.
The screen showed his regular home menu, with no sign of his being on the line, meaning it must have disconnected when it fell. He redialed but the phone wouldn't connect, instead it made a strange strangled beep and the screen faded to black.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Apollo shook the phone and smacked it a few times for good measure before trying to get it to turn back on, "Come on, come on. Stupid piece of junk," He muttered to it as he struggled to get it to do something.
He would have dropped the thing and used the office phone to call Athena back, but in an epic lack of foresight he'd never bothered to memorize her number, instead trusting his phone to do it for him.
At last he gave up and tossed it to the couch across the room, where it bounced but landed securely on a cushion. He sighed and hobbled over. He'd made it halfway before the door to the room crashed open, startling him to the point where he stepped down on the wrong foot and released all his weight onto it. He stumbled forward a step before crashing into a table and falling once more.
"Apollo!" Athena was by his side in an instant her questions coming at him faster than he could process them, "What happened? Are you alright? It sounded like you were being attacked, were you? What happened to your phone? Why didn't you call me back? Why is the chair toppled over?"
Through the barrage of questions Apollo grimaced and shifted to take the pressure off his ankle, ignoring Athena mostly because his head was spinning. He finally managed, "Athena, try breathing between questions."
"Right," she paused and noticed his foot, "Oh, my gosh! Is your foot ok? Apollo, look at your ankle, it's so swollen! What are you doing on your feet? Why didn't you sit down?"
"Athena," Apollo said.
She clamped her mouth shut and smiled, "Let me help you to the couch, and then you can tell me what happened," she said helping him to stand
When they reached the couch Apollo fell into it with a plop. "Thanks," he sighed as Athena took her seat next to him.
"So?" she prompted.
Apollo blushed, "It's not all that exciting."
"Not good enough. I ran all the way over here, I deserve an explanation."
"Fine," Apollo took in a deep breath and started, "I had my chair tilted back while we were talking and my foot slipped making me fall. That's the crash you heard. After that I twisted my ankle on the chair trying to stand, and broke my phone sometime during all that mess. I was on my way to the couch when you burst in and I tripped again," the words spilled out in quick order, Apollo wanting to be done with the whole explanation as fast as possible.
Athena laughed, "Apollo, you're such a klutz."
"Your one to talk," he muttered.
"Not nice," Athena pouted.
"You started it."
"No I didn't. Besides, shouldn't I get a reward for coming to save you?"
Apollo grinned at her, "A reward? For rescuing me from my own clumsiness? I dunno."
"Well if you're not going to give me one, I may have to take it," Athena said.
"Oh, and how are you planning to do that? I'm injured remember?" Apollo challenged.
Athena leaned forward, "I can get creative."
Apollo felt his face heating up, flirting was one thing. This was another.
He and Athena flirted a lot, it was easy when you worked closely with one another in an office like the Wright Anything Agency. The lack of employees, and the time they spent together had made strong bonds quickly between Athena and himself, and the events of the Phantom trial had only strengthened those bonds.
As Apollo sat there, his ankle throbbing, Athena playfully flirting with him, and him flirting back he realized something. That the bright, energetic girl in front of him was the only person he wanted running to rescue him from a clumsy fall. That he cared more about how she thought of him than anyone else he knew. And that like the onset of a spring storm he'd fallen for her slowly, and then all at once like a downpour he had no control over.
All at once he felt shy and bold, confident and terrified. What if she didn't feel the same way? What if her flirting was little more than a diversion? His stomach fell from him, faster than it had during his fall, and the words tumbled from his lips, clumsy and not at all eloquent like his fuzzy mind thought they should be.
"Why not dinner?"
Her face creased into a frown and he felt the pit that was his stomach grow deeper, "What?" she blinked.
"Dinner. You know, you and me at a restaurant eating food. That would make a pretty good reward. Unless you'd like something else?" He tagged the last bit on as an out for her, a way to smoothly get out of his request.
He wasn't even sure he'd really asked her out until a smile, like the breaking of dawn over a mountain, lit her face up, warming his insides with hope.
"Apollo Justice, are you asking me out?"
"If I am?" he asked his confidence returning.
"Then I'd say, let's skip dinner and go somewhere like an amusement park. First dates are so boring if you have to sit across from one another the entire time," she grinned.
He laughed, "Alright, but after my ankle is better. You wouldn't want me tripping all over the place."
She nodded, "For now, why don't we relax? Mr. Wright will be back soon with Trucy and we can take care of your ankle then." She snatched the tv remote and clicked on the set before tucking herself close to Apollo.
They sat that way for a moment before, "Athena, don't you have a case to take care of?"
She jumped up, jostling Apollo, "Your right! Apollo you distracted me!"
'I distracted you?' Apollo thought, but didn't dare speak it as Athena ran out the door leaving him by himself again. Although, this time he didn't feel so alone. He was going to go out on a date with Athena. That thought comforted him for a moment before he realized at some point Trucy and Phoenix would find out and who knew how they'd respond.