Apollo was confused.
Sure, it wasn't very often that he visited Klavier Gavin in his lavish prosecutor's office, but when he occasionally did, Klavier was more than welcoming. Sometimes to an uncomfortable extent, even.
That's why Apollo couldn't understand why one of his hands was balancing himself on the office's door frame and the other was firmly gripping the office's door knob, trying to push it open with all his strength.
"It's me, Apollo. I just came to visit…" Apollo groaned, his voice straining in his effort. "Could you let me in?"
"N-nein!" came the distressed voice on the other side of the door: Klavier, also stressed and using all his might to push the door shut. "You never told me you were coming!"
"T-that was never a problem!" Apollo huffed.
"Achtung! Not right now!"
"Is something wrong?"
Klavier tried again to shut the door. Apollo was surprised at how weak he was.
"Klavier…Are you hiding something?"
There was small gasp of mild surprise on the other side of the door. Apollo felt force pushing the door weaken and took the chance to swing it completely open. He looked around. The office was as normal looking as it ever was: a glimmerous mess of guitars, papers, and a fancy massage chair. Klavier looked his usual glimmerous too, though his hair was a little messy form the struggle. His mouth was a little "o" of surprise and he wore an embarrassed expression on his face.
His face.
Apollo noticed his face.
Klavier was wearing glasses.
Apollo couldn't help his blank expression. The resemblance was shocking. Despite himself, he stared.
Klavier toyed with his bangs, pouting. "Well, Herr Forehead? What do you want?" He glanced at Apollo quickly. "You don't have to look at me with that surprised face. Bad vision runs in the family. It would be troublesome…to rock wearing glasses, ja?"
Apollo snapped out of his daze. "Oh…" he blinked himself back to reality. "I kind of spaced out. Sorry, Mr. Gavin."
There was a brief, stale silence as they both realized what Apollo had just said. Klavier made the most horrified face Apollo had ever seen the cool prosecuted pull off. Apollo tried to catch himself with a pathetic "ah", but only found himself with a face full of door. Literally.
"Shmmt…" Apollo mumbled as he pulled his poor face away from the unloving wood. His nose might have been bleeding, he wasn't sure, but it wasn't too important. Right now, he was an idiot.
"Klavier…" Apollo leaned against the door, barely touching it. It suddenly seemed as delicate as the prosecutor on the other side of it. "I-it was…I didn't mean…"
Apollo heard locks clicking. He suddenly wanted to burst into tears.
'..I never knew he was sensitive…'
"Klavier, I'm so sorry…" Apollo never felt so pathetic and guilty in his life.
"…Auf Wiedersehen."
Apollo backed away from the door. He wasn't wanted here. Not now.
'Maybe I can come back tomorrow…to beg for forgiveness…'
Apollo found himself again at the door of Klavier's office. A day earlier, he had accidentally, momentarily, mistook Klavier for his brother and had said door closed, quite painfully, in face. No, his nose didn't bleed, but it was now a dingy blue at the tip. Apollo had considered covering it up with make-up, but the thought of wearing make-up to see Klavier made him uneasy. So he just settled for an awkward, uncomfortable band-aid that was some what close to his skin tone.
For some reason, he just didn't want Klavier to notice.
Unlike the day before, Apollo didn't find himself in struggle to enter to office; the door wasn't even closed. Apollo pushed open the cracked open door to find the same office as the day before, guitars and mess and chair and all. He also found a brooding Klavier, sitting almost anxiously in the chair. He shot up when Apollo entered the room, his face a jumbled flurry of emotions. Once he saw Apollo, his expression sank to a spiteful glare with a sigh.
"Ah. Herr Justice." He voice was cold. Unloving. He didn't even bother call Apollo "Forehead".
Apollo forced himself to make eye contact with the angsting prosecutor. He glanced worriedly at Klavier and noticed he wasn't wearing the glasses today. Apollo felt his stomach tighten as he wondered why.
"Klavier…" Apollo tried to look as pitiful as possible. It wasn't very hard. "I came to apologize for, uh, yesterday…"
Klavier looked at him, an odd mix of rage, embarrassment, and humor. "Ach, yes. What exactly was it that transpired yesterday?"
"I…I…" Apollo squirmed. He felt like a child being punished. "I'm sorry I mistook you…for your brother."
Klavier fell back into his chair, a flat puff of air escaping from the wrinkles of leather. "Ja…that." He reclined a bit. "It was quite upsetting."
Apollo tried not to whimper.
"Ach, but I suppose I could forgive you. It was simple slip of the mouth. With the glasses, I always hear how much I look like my brother. Perhaps I just…overreacted." Apollo noticed any emotion fall from the prosecutor's face as he drifted off into thought. Melancholic. Misty-eyed.
Even the foolish Apollo could tell something was bothering him.
Nervously, Apollo swallowed. He was bad with personal talk. But he knew Klavier need it.
"W-would you like to talk about it?"
Now Apollo felt like a school girl confessing to her crush.
Not the best scenario to put himself in.
"Please." Klavier gave a shaky smile. His fancy chair was slowly turning to the opposite direction. "I'm fine. You don't need to stay. You don't need to console me if you don't want to."
Apollo took a backwards step. Only one. Something was keeping him leaving. Guilt or pity or something else kept him from taking the second step, out of the door. It made him take a deep breath and, despite his Chords of Steel, say softly,
"But I do want to."
Klavier laughed a hollow laugh. Then there was silence for what seemed like several minutes. Apollo watched Klavier. He hadn't turned around his fancy chair. He just gazed out through the extravagant window. Apollo wasn't sure if Klavier was even aware he was still there.
"I think I want to forget him."
Apollo jumped a little at the sudden remark. Klavier swiveled a little, still facing the window.
"Kristoph…" he sighed slowly. "He's a murderer. A murderer and a liar." He flopped his head lazily to the side. "…'An evil human being.' That's what he said, ja?"
Apollo nodded. Klavier probably couldn't see him, but he felt like he had to.
"But he's also my brother. And I'll always be Klavier Gavin, prosecutor, lead vocalist of the Gavinners, brother of murderous defense attorney Kristoph Gavin." Another stifled, painful laugh.
Apollo fished for something to say. He had an aching desire to help this man.
"No…" His soft voice seemed to echo through the room. "You can change that."
There was another sigh of air as Klavier repositioned his head. "Nein. I've tried, Justice. Believe me. But no matter what, I can only get so far away from him." He paused. "Even if push him to back of my mind, if I bury all of those memories, throw away those papers, burn those photos…" Finally, Klavier swiveled the chair to face Apollo. His eyes reflected nostalgia and despair.
"…I still see him whenever I look in the mirror."
Apollo visibly flinched. Klavier met him with a grim smile.
"And other people see him too."
Apollo felt his guilt returning. He never expected such a simple mistake to hurt so much.
Most people don't.
Klavier began to swivel away again. "Aren't you going to say something …Herr Forehead?"
Apollo could tell how he laced his words with sarcasm, trying to be the cool guy he usually was. But his needy tone gave him away. Apollo heavy heartedly walked toward the fancy massage chair until he stood almost directly in front of him. By now, he had realized his mouth tends to just vomit out whatever he was thinking, and right now was probably the best time to let it do just that.
"Klavier, I think the glasses look better on you."
Klavier looked up. "W-what?"
Apollo cleared his throat. "…Yeah, you can't bury or burn the past. It comes back to haunt you eventually. We've learned that already." He glanced away for a second, cautious of alluding the Misham case. "But now, the present, even the future maybe, Kristoph doesn't control you. He'll still be your older brother, yeah, but I think "prosecutor" and "rock star" far outshine that. You're an amazing person; the one and only Klavier Gavin." Apollo gave a sincere, glowing smile. "And sure, you look like him, a little more so with the glasses, but the only person you should see in that mirror is yourself. That's how mirrors work."
Apollo blushed as he realized what little sense he was starting to make. He looked around fiercely, embarrassed, before looking back at Klavier. He was expecting confusion, a raised eyebrow, maybe more angst.
But when he found Klavier returning his sweet smile, he felt as if he were on top of the world.
"I came here yesterday to see YOU and YOU were here. My eye's, yeah, they mistook you for your brother for a second, but of course I knew…" Apollo gave his chest a good slap. He gestured what he couldn't make himself say. "…I knew it was you." He hoped this was more conclusive than his last bit.
Klavier got up from his chair. "I'm surprised, Herr Justice." He laughed a little. Genuine laughter. "You've managed to cheer me up quite a bit."
Apollo squirmed, though not out of guilt. "I'm just glad you're not so mad…" He couldn't find anything more logical to say anymore.
"I'm sincerely sorry about yesterday too." Klavier said, twirling his hair bashfully. "I know I overreacted. It's a touchy subject. But," He shot a warm glance at Apollo, "I guess I knew you'd come back. That's why I made sure the door was left open until you did."
Apollo laughed and scratched the back of his head shyly. He actually wasn't sure how he should respond to that.
Klavier smiled warmly. "I...wanted to see you again."
Apollo felt his cheeks heat up a bit. "Um." That was all he could say in his fumbling embarrassment.
"Ach!" Klavier suddenly leaned forward, positioning his face mere centimeters away from Apollo. His eyes squinted as he examined Apollo's face with childlike intrigue.
Apollo was so frightened by the extremely forward action that he froze up. Any words that tried to escape his mouth were hushed to an "Aaaaahhhhggah…" His face felt like it was on fire.
Klavier finally leaned back, leaving Apollo a hissing mess, red from head to toe. Klavier shot a look of pure guilt. "I'm the one that caused that nasty bruise, ja?" He frowned. "I am deeply sorry."
Apollo mumbled something.
"I-issarite."
Klavier cocked his head to the side and smirked. He knew this reaction.
"Pardon. I'm not wearing my contacts…" Klavier said plainly.
Apollo, recovering himself, turned to leave. His work here was more than done. "I-I'm just glad we talked things out. I'll see you some other time Klav-"
"…But if you think they look so good on me, I'll wear my glasses next time you come."
And with that, Apollo missed the door and ran his poor nose straight into the wall.
This was done for the PW Kink Meme. The prompt was that Klavier actually wears glasses and Apollo accidentally calls him "Kristoph", causing angst. I mention this at the end since it's not exactly what I did. XD I usually take a day or so to draft, especially with something angst-ish, but this I did in intervals directly onto the computer, so some parts are weaker than others. :
No more self-pity nao. ;-;
