All It Took
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters from Ace Attorney. All credits go to Capcom, they own the rights to everything.
Ema huffed down the hallway to her office. She opened the door, walked in, and shut it behind her with more force than was probably necessary. Her day was not going too well.
She did feel like going to a concert. But she was apparently going anyway, at the urging of her friend fellow detective, Daryan Crescend. More like he was making her go, in her opinion, but that was beside the point.
Ema grumbled to herself as she threw her messenger bag down and pulled paperwork from her inbox to fill out.
"This is stupid, he knows I don't like concerts...I deal with the blonde fop here at work, why would I want to see him somewhere else? God he drive me insane...At least I'll be hanging out with Daryan. That's the only saving grace of that night."
The concert in question that she would be attending would be in three days time. It would be at the normal Los Angeles venue for the Gavinner's, Sunshine Stadium. Just where Ema wanted to be, in an overrated concert hall filled with thousands of screaming fangirls crying over the rock stars.
Although for as much as she grumbled about going to the concert, it's not like she had other plans for that night. If she wasn't going, Ema would probably end up reading a forensics textbook or reading current event news articles on the internet. Almost the same thing she did every night. She should do something different, even if it wasn't her preferred activity or music.
Ema sat in silence and filled out paperwork for several different departments at the precinct. Once everything was finished, she picked her messenger back back up and retrieved a bag of Snackoo's from the side pocket. Might as well have some while she was walking around the entire building.
She made her rounds, dropping off paperwork and checking on cases for her superior while she did so. Eventually she made her way to Criminal Affairs and swung by the office of the detective/rock-star who was dragging her to the concert, Daryan Crescend.
She knocked twice on his door and let herself in. They were good enough friends that she simply needed to announce her presence before coming in. The same went for him when he was visiting her in the Homicide department.
"Hey Daryan, got paperwork for you." Ema walked over and held out the manilla folder to him.
Daryan took the folder from her outstretched hand and tossed it next to the papers in front of him. "Thanks, I'll get that taken care of. You almost done for the day? I was thinking of getting out of here in a bit."
Ema shrugged. "I need to go back and see what else is left for me to do. Last I checked I was caught up, but I wouldn't put it past the fop to have more crap waiting for me when I get back." She pouted thinking about having more work to do.
He smirked at Ema's visible irritation. Watching her and his best friend interact was always amusing. Ema had started out treating him the same way, but Klavier being her boss didn't help the situation, so she became friends with Daryan instead. She often complained to him about Klavier and he listened to her rantings without stopping her.
"Go see if Gavin left you anything. He told me he's got a case to work on, so he wasn't gonna be going out. That give you any motivation to come out?"
Ema nodded eagerly. "Definitely. Where did you want to go?"
"The usual place?"
Ema nodded again. She wasn't one to drink, but every once in a while after work was nice. "I'll text you when I'm finished, don't rush to get done here, it's still early."
"Alright, go get your stuff done. I'll catch up with you." Daryan told her. Ema waved and turned on her heel to leave. Daryan watched her lab coat swish around her and listened to her heels click on the floor as she walked down the hallway.
An hour later, Ema and Daryan walked into a small upscale bar and sat down at their semi regular table. They'd been coming to the same place occasionally ever since they became friends.
The bartender called out to Daryan. "The usual for you and the lady?"
Daryan nodded and gave a two finger salute to the bartender. Ema on the other hand blushed, looking away to hide it from his view.
She only felt slightly uncomfortable with people referring to her as Daryan's 'woman'. Since they technically were not dating, people assuming they were just because they were seen out in public frequently made her blush. They'd never gone further than a platonic relationship, but lately Ema had been tossing around the idea of making it more. The idea had been in her head long enough that she'd thought about it more than once. Okay maybe nine or ten times. But she still had limited dating experience, so thinking about a relationship made her feel a little self-conscious. She rubbed her neck and looked back at him.
"So you looking forward to the concert at all Ema?"
Ema shrugged. "Yes and no. Concerts were never really something I enjoyed, but since it's you guys playing my interest is a bit higher."
That much was true. Ema may listen to music as much as the next person, but a stadium filled with thousands of screaming fans was not something she wanted to endure for two hours. But she was friends with the Gavinner's so it wasn't all bad that she was going.
Daryan flashed her a small smirk. "Heh, at least you're admitting you do care a little about the band."
Ema rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up, you know I support you guys, even if your music is only about love and relationships." Ema grinned as she reminded him of her biggest complaint about the band's typical song lyrics.
Daryan's smirk widened. "And I'm willing to bet money you're more of a Gavinner's fan than you let on. Wouldn't surprise me if you were a closet fangirl like all the rest."
Ema's eyes narrowed playfully. "Then you'd be losing a hefty sum of money there Crescend."
He shrugged and his eyes shifted away from her as the waitress brought them their usual drinks. Beer for him, flavored vodka for her. They both took a sip of their drinks and felt a little better after they did.
Work had been stressful for them both the past couple weeks, with a string of gang related murders keeping them both tied up. A drink was appreciated to relax their minds a bit.
Three days later, Ema approached Sunshine Stadium an hour before the concert was set to start. Daryan had told her she could swing by and hang with him in the dressing room before they had to go on stage, and she agreed. The last few times she'd been to a Gavinner's concert, it'd been as Klavier's so-called 'security detail'. So instead of seeing things strictly from the side, she was seeing a concert from the front of the stage, from the side of the fan.
She walked down the familiar hallways toward the backstage area and passed various employees as she went further into the building. As she walked more, she heard increasing amounts of talking, and when she rounded the last corner before the dressing room, she was blocked by a group of fangirls trying to get past the security guard.
(Of course there would be fans trying to get back here...) Ema rolled her eyes in exasperation and elbowed her way through the group of teenage girls. As she eventually made her way to the front of the crowd, she was immediately waved through by the security guard who knew Ema.
As she strode past the guard and approached the dressing room door, she heard a chorus of groans and whining from the fangirls. She heard simultaneous complaints of 'It being so unfair she got to walk right past!' 'Who does she think she is?' and the like. Ema rolled her eyes again and felt a smirk creep up her lips. Like was a huge deal to her that she was going into the Gavinner's dressing room since she was friends with one of them, but to the others it would be an ideal moment of fangirl glory.
Ema turned the doorknob and entered the dressing room. Daryan and Klavier were sitting opposite each other on two leather couches. They both looked up when she shut the door, and both smiled when they saw her, although for different reasons.
Klavier's was more along the lines of a smirk, since he knew his mere presence was a source of irritation for her. Daryan's on the other hand was a more genuine smile, because he was happy to see his friend. He waved her over to sit next to him and Ema sighed in contentment when she sank down into the plush sofa.
"Fraulein Skye, I'm quite surprised to see you at the concert, much less back here. I wasn't even aware you were coming to the concert." Klavier said thoughtfully.
Daryan rolled his eyes at his bandmate. "Dude I told you last week I was having Ema come to the concert. You know why I did, what we're doing tonight."
Klavier nodded and picked up a piece of paper, which Ema assumed was the setlist for the show tonight. "Ja, I'm well aware of the change you made. It was your idea after all."
Ema raises an eyebrow at the blonde rock star and Klavier caught her inquisitive gaze. "We had previously decided what songs we were going to be performing, but Daryan made a last minute substitution for a new song he wrote for the band."
"You wrote a new song? You didn't tell me you were, what's it about?" Ema asked. She knew Daryan was involved with the songwriting process for the Gavinner's, but for the most part he left writing the lyrics up to Klavier, while he wrote more of the actual music for the songs. Hearing he'd had a more active role in the lyrics was news to her.
But Ema wouldn't be getting an answer from the friend of hers sitting next to her, or from her superior across from her. Klavier had been ordered to keep the secret kept under lock and key until they actually went on stage to perform. That's when she would figure out what exactly the guitar player had up his sleeve.
The trio simply sat and talked until it was time for the guys to go on stage with the rest of the band and begin the show. Before Ema walked out the door she gave Daryan a quick hug and wished him luck. "Not that you need it." she reminded him. He just grinned and gave her hair a playful tug before pushing her out the door.
Ema hurried back to the seating area, hoping her seat wasn't now taken by fans who'd want the extra space to get closer to the rock stars. Anything to see Klavier's glimmerous hair or Daryan's unusual outfit a little easier.
Thankfully her seat was miraculously still empty, although the entire section certainly wasn't. She had teenage girls on any side of her, and it was all she could do to bite her tongue and not tell them to shut up.
The lights suddenly dimmed and the thousands of similarly pitched screams commenced. Ema gritted her teeth and scrunched her eyes shut. Definitely the worst part of a rock concert was the noise level. It's any wonder Daryan or Klavier hadn't experienced some hearing loss after performing with the band for as long as they have.
The five members of the Gavinner's ran onstage, taking their positions with their instruments. The show immediately started off with the Gavinner's first hit, '13 Years Hard Time For Love', and the screaming only increased in volume when the girls realized it was the song that shot the band to superstardom. Going platinum within a week, the debut song and the accompanying album was one of their most recognizable, even for people who didn't listen to them regularly.
Two songs passed, three songs, then four. Ema recognized all the tracks, but didn't know them well enough to sing by heart like all the girls around her. Later once she realized the concert was winding down, Klavier suddenly delivered the news that they were going to play a brand new, at that moment unreleased track. The instant screaming then attained ear drum deafening levels.
Daryan took a couple steps forward to be right beside Klavier, instead of several feet behind the vocalist. He took his position next to his own individual microphone and started the song off with chords that were completely foreign to Ema. Another change she noticed was he was singing the melody of the song instead of Klavier, who was simply singing backup. That was a first for the Gavinner's, since Klavier had always been the lead vocalist.
As the song progressed, something in Ema's brain clicked as she listened to the lyrics that she now knew Daryan himself had written. The song was going on to talk about people who were friends and had a suspected attraction but neither would act upon it. How one look in the girls eyes would make the guy want to hold her and never let go.
(Is this insinuating what I think it is? I never would have guessed he actually returned the interest...and I never would have guessed he'd tell me in this way...) Ema thought to herself as she watched her friend play through the final run through of the chorus, watching his gaze remain focused on his guitar, his fingers playing the complicated string of notes. She'd never noticed how mesmerizing his focus could be, how intensely he would fixate on something when it grabbed his attention.
Now the glances she'd seen coming from him in her direction made sense. Daryan loved playing his guitar more than anything in the world, and his face would light up when he was on stage, in his element on a playground of sorts. The look he always had on his face when he was playing his music would be directed at her quite often the more she thought about it. But she hadn't given it a second thought until that very moment.
All it took was one time on the other side of the stage to realize what everything meant. All it took was one gaze from him in the past, and one gaze now to make the connection about how he felt about her. All it took was one simple gesture on his part, on such a large scale, to connect the dots in her head about how she felt about him too.
The man up on stage next to Klavier was no longer just her friend and fellow detective. He was something more, she just knew it.
Author's Notes: Fwew, I finally got this done, it took a lot longer than it should have lol. It's short and sweet, but I'm happy with how it turned out. This was my first shot writing for the pairing, so I hope people are pleased with how I did ^_^